Saying AFCON 2023 has been pure entertainment so far is a massive understatement – the group stage saw no shortage of upsets, stunning goals and outstanding performances.
We caught up with AFCON 1994 winner and Bet9ja Ambassador Victor Ikpeba to speak about his favourite moments, players, and matches from the tournament so far.
You can bet on over 200 markets per game during AFCON here at Bet9ja!
Goal Of The Group Stage
Wow, we have been spoiled with some of the goals so far in this tournament! The young star from Senegal, Lamine Camara, scored a beauty in their opening match against Gambia. He is a player that I can see getting a big move soon.
Former Manchester United man Bebe scored an amazing free-kick against Mozambique from 40 yards – you have to ask some questions of the goalkeeper but to hit a ball with that much power takes some doing.
Mauritania have come out of nowhere and scored two absolutely stunning goals in their match against Angola. Sidi Bouna Amar scored a brilliant solo goal to get them off the mark in AFCON, but the next goal from Aboubakary Koita is my goal of the tournament so far.
The man has as a rocket launcher of a right foot. He was taking shots from range all game that were troubling the Angolan ‘keeper, but this one flew right into the top corner after he cut inside his man.
Player Of The Group Stage
I think that this can only be one man – Emilio Nsue. To score five goals in three matches in the AFCON group stage is a crazy feat on its own, but when you consider that he’s played at right back for most of his career and is playing for what you’d usually consider a small country it makes it all the more impressive.
Equatorial Guinea wowed everyone with their performances in the group stage – the way they beat Ivory Coast made Nigeria’s draw with them look like a great result in retrospect.
Match Of The Group Stage
This is another category that I had real trouble with choosing a winner for. We have seen some crazy upsets and thrilling games, but the match of the tournament so far has to be Cape Verde vs Egypt. With no Mo Salah, the pressure was really on Egypt and I think everyone thought they’d done enough when they scored to make it 2-1 in the 93rd minute, and then Cape Verde went and equalised five minutes later!
Along with the drama in the Ghana vs Mozambique match, we saw four separate injury time goals. It was impossible to keep track of who was qualifying!
