It was a jubilant night for the hosts of the 2023 AFCON, Ivory Coast as they finally confirmed their place in the next round of the tournament after waiting for two days.
Ivory Coast, like Ghana, Algeria, Tunisia, and other former winners of the tournament who have crashed out of the 2023 AFCON, had an abysmal group-stage campaign.
Interestingly, unlike other teams, Ivory Coast have been gifted a second chance, thanks to Morocco who defeated Zambia on Wednesday night, January 24.
Note that Ivory Coast finished third in Group A after recording a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau, a 1-0 defeat in the hands of Nigeria, and a surprising 4-0 defeat in the hands of Equatorial Guinea.
Hence, their only hope to progress in the tournament was to be one of the four best losers. There was just one slot left after the Group E teams played their game at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Zambia who finished third in Group F with 2 points in three games were expected to beat Morocco to take the slot but lost 1-0 to the star-studded Morocco side, hence, Ivory Coast who have three points grabbed the slot and landed in the round of 16.
Below are all the 2023 AFCON Round Of 16 Fixtures and Kick-Off Time
January 27th:
Angola vs Nambia
6 p.m.
Nigeria vs Cameroon.
9 p.m.
January 28th:
Equatorial Guinea vs Guinea
6 p.m.
Egypt vs DR Congo.
9 p.m.
January 29th:
Cape Verde vs Mauritania
6 p.m.
Senegal vs Cote d’Ivoire.
9 p.m.
January 30th:
Mali vs Burkina Faso
6 p.m.
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Morocco vs South Africa.
9 p.m.
