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The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is presently underway in Cameroon, with 24 Nations slugging it out for the trophy. The tournament is in its 33rd edition this year, having commenced in 1957.
AFCON provides the occasional fairytale story
Football, like every other sport, thrives on the occasional underdog story. Stories like the fairytale 2014-15 season for Leicester City, FC Porto in 2003-04 and Wigan Athletic in 2012-13 are part of what makes football unique.
On the international scene, we have seen Croatia's brilliant run in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Greece's UEFA Euro 2004 triumph. Like these competitions, AFCON provides its own thrillers that leave fans at the edge of their seats. When underdogs claim huge scalps, it is always very enjoyable for the neutrals.
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In some recent editions of AFCON, underdogs have claimed some very big scalps and even gone all the way in the tournament. Without further ado, here is a list of our top five upsets in AFCON history.
#5 Benin Republic vs Morocco (2019)
In the 2019 edition of AFCON, the Squirrels of Benin Republic stumbled through the group stage with three draws and qualified to face Morocco in the Round of 16. The Atlas Lions had not conceded a single goal in the group stage and were up against a nation that had never won a game in the competition.
Morocco had a star-studded side with Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, Nabil Dirar, Youssef En-Nesyri and a host of stars all at the tournament. They are one of the favorites to go all the way in the tournament.
In their Round of 16 match against the Squirrels, they were stunned when Moise Adilehou gave their opponents the lead in the second half. Morocco rallied and found an equalizer from Youssef En-Nesyri, before Hakim Ziyech missed a 96th minute penalty for the Atlas Lions. The Benin Republic finished the game with ten men as Khaled Adenon was sent off in the first half of extra time.
Despite going down to ten men, Benin Republic held off a barrage of Morocco attacks and took the game to penalties. All of the Squirrels' penalties ended up in the back of the net, but Morocco scored only one through Oussama Idrissi and the game ended 4-1. Sofiane Boufal and En-Nesyri missed their penalties as Benin shocked Morocco and booked their place in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
#4 Burkina Faso vs Ghana (2013)
In the 2013 AFCON, an unheralded Burkina Faso side went up against Ghana's Black Stars in the semifinals for a place in their first-ever final. Ghana were the bigger side, with recognized stars such as Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew and Mubarak Wakaso among others in their squad.
Led by iconic striker Aristide Bance, the Stallions came back from a Mubarak Wakaso penalty down to equalize through Bance and send the game into extra-time. Burkina Faso played against Ghana as well as the Tunisian referee, Jedidi Slim, who made a remarkable number of contentious calls in the game.
Slim disallowed a perfectly legal Burkina Faso goal and ignored two penalty shouts before sending off Burkinabe star Jonathan Pitroipa late in the day. His actions caused him to be suspended by CAF after the game. Burkina Faso were served justice as they went on to win the penalty shootout 3-2.
Isaac Vorsah missed Ghana's first penalty of the shootout before Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu missed the penalty that confirmed Burkina Faso as finalists. It was the first time the Burkinabe reached the final of AFCON, and they went on to lose 1-0 to Nigeria.
#3 Malawi vs Algeria 2010
A team with zero AFCON credibility thrashing a team that had qualified for the FIFA World Cup? Yes, please. The year was 2010, and the venue was the November 11 Stadium in Angola. In their first AFCON appearance since 1984, Malawi thrashed Algeria 3-0 to stun the entire African continent.
The Flames of Malawi have never won a single AFCON game in their history, and have made only one appearance in the competition, in 1984. In that edition of the tournament, Malawi were walloped 3-0 by Algeria as they exited the group stage with one point from three games.
Coming into the 2010 AFCON, Malawi had no key players of note and were seen as not being a threat in a group that also contained Angola, Mali and Algeria. A bit of comical defending saw the Flames take the lead in their opening match through Russell Mwafulirwa. More soon followed through Elvis Kafoteka as the Algerians struggled to play in the mid-day heat in Angola. Davi Banda rounded off the scoring in the second half as Malawi completed a famous win.
To add to the importance of the win to their football history, they did not make it out of the group stage. Only in 2022 did they manage another win in the competition after a 2-1 defeat of Zimbabwe in Cameroon.
#2 Madagascar vs Nigeria 2019
Nigeria are back in AFCON after a six-year hiatus; the Super Eagles had not played in the competition since winning it in 2013. They had Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar in their group and were expected to stroll through.
Small Indian Ocean nation Madagascar was making its tournament debut after 49 failed qualification attempts. After managing to pick up four points from their first two games in the group, Madagascar were up against Nigeria in the final match of the group phase.
The Super Eagles had a good number of stars, including Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Ahmed Musa, John Obi Mikel, Odion Ighalo and many others.
Madagascar took an early lead through Lalaina Nomenjanahary to silence the Nigerians before a second-half strike from Carolus Andriamatsinoro sealed the win.
Nigeria's Super Eagles could only muster one shot on target all game despite having more than 60% of the ball. Despite being ranked 108th in the world, 63 places below the Super Eagles, Madagascar managed to finish on top of the group with the result.
They would go on to lose 3-0 to Tunisia in the quarterfinals, bringing their terrific run to an end.
#1 Zambia vs Ivory Coast 2012
Before Zambia took on Ivory Coast in the final of the 2012 AFCON, the entire team received the motivation that this was more than just a match. National icon Kalusha Bwalya took the team to the resting place of the squad which had perished in an airplane accident in 1994 to pay their respects. Eighteen years later, the Chipolopolo had reached the final of AFCON in the same country that so many of their compatriots had died.
Led by the Katongo brothers, goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene and a number of other national stars, Zambia were set to take on the greatest Ivory Coast team in the final.
Despite having most of their players plying their trade in the Zambian League, the difference in quality was not all that apparent against the Ivorians. Ivory Coast had Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Cheikh Tiote, Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Kolo Toure and many other stars on their side.
Drogba missed a 70th minute penalty for the Elephants, and they missed a string of chances to win the game. The match went to penalties, and Gervinho missed the deciding kick for the Ivorians, while Stophira Sunzu scored the deciding penalty for the Zambians.
Zambia had defeated arguably the greatest generation of Ivorian players on the biggest stage of all, making this the biggest upset in AFCON history.
