AFCON 2024 is up and running and with every team in the tournament having played at least one game, we thought it’d be fitting to discuss the big talking points and anything that may have been missed so far.
Here are five key talking points from AFCON 2024 so far with the tournament now in full swing…
Salah’s injury scare
Arguably the biggest story emerging from AFCON is the injury that Mohamed Salah picked up last night in Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Ghana.
Salah limped off the pitch just before half-time with an apparent hamstring injury, sparking concerns for Liverpool as they continue their hunt for silverware both domestically and in Europe.
Egypt managed to salvage a point against a strong Ghana side despite losing Salah midway through the game, but they will also be hoping for a swift recovery as their qualification to the knockouts is far from being a formality, having drawn their first two outings.
Plenty of upsets
Embed from Getty ImagesAs is often the nature of international tournaments, a good old-fashioned upset is always a feature and it’s been noticeably vivid at AFCON across the years.
In 2019 and 2021 respectively, Madagascar and Comoros picked up their first-ever victories in the competition, whilst competition regulars such as Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania have demonstrated the ability to compete against teams seated at the high table of African football.
Coming into 2024’s edition of AFCON, there was no debutants with only five qualifiers having never before won a game at the tournament before 2024. Namibia made that four teams when they dispatched Tunisia for their first AFCON victory.
Cape Verde also showed their worth, defeating one of the competition’s favourites in Ghana on the opening matchday of Group B. Mozambique have also mixed it with the big boys – coming within seconds of beating Egypt only for Mohamed Salah to salvage a 2-2 draw with a 97th minute winning penalty.
Big boys struggling
Embed from Getty ImagesOf the teams tipped as favourites, only Morocco, reigning champions Senegal and Ivory Coast have made convincing starts to their campaigns.
As for the rest, Ghana have shown frailties in their opening fixtures and find themselves in the precarious position of being eliminated from the tournament. Sitting on one point, they are yet to pick up a win and failure to do so in their last game will signal the end.
Egypt too are struggling and are yet to pick up a win and Cameroon are in a similar situation, as they were outplayed by Guinea in their opening game and look a shadow of the team they once were.
Goalkeepers take centre stage
Embed from Getty ImagesOne facet of the tournament that has gone slightly under the radar is the performance of goalkeepers in the opening few games.
Equatorial Guinea’s Jesus Owono – still only 22 – was named man of the match after his heroics during his side’s memorable 1-1 draw with Nigeria. Owono made a number of incredible stops in the game to keep out Victor Osimhen and Alex Iwobi.
Guinea-Bissau’s Ouparine Djoco has been another standout performer, pulling off some sensational saves against Ivory Coast.
Andre Onana also hit the headlines having had to rush back for Cameroon’s opening game following Man Utd’s draw with Spurs before finding out he had failed to make the squad.
The goalkeeper was said to be less than happy with the decision having himself already attracted plenty of criticism for his decision to delay his arrival at AFCON.
No refereeing drama yet
One of the biggest storylines of the last AFCON group stage was the refereeing display of Janny Sikazwe, who appeared to blow up before 90 minutes during Mali’s victory over Tunisia.
This time around, there has been no such hiccups yet and the officials have been refereeing with much more authority and caution.
Having VAR has seriously aided the referees, who are now under less pressure to make decisions and have that insurance that if they do get something wrong they can always consult with the VAR hub.
A number of incidents have been intervened successfully by VAR and as a result, it has improved the overall performance of the referee on the pitch.
