AFCON & Asian Cup 2023 Thread

Brussels Sprout

Surprised to see that there is a thread for neither tournament. May as well just have the one thread since there clearly isn't that much interest. That's a shame because there have been some cracking games and plenty of drama so far

Both are a 24 team format and are now finished with with the group stages and into the last 16.

Egypt were knocked out by DR Congo last night in a penalty shootout that came down to the two keepers taking penalties. Tajikistan shocked the UAE in another peno shootout earlier. Nigeria dumped out Cameroon on Saturday night.

Jordan and Iraq just played a bonkers game in which Iraq went 2-1 up and then promptly had their goal scorer given a send yellow card because he mocked Jordan's national dish with his celebration (no I am not making this up). Jordan went on to score two goals in injury time to progress 3-2.

Here are the two brackets

Saudi Arabia vs South Korea is going to be a huge game tomorrow. Winner takes on Australia in the quarter-finals - which is a ridiculously strong quarter of the draw. Japan and Iran could also meet in the quarter-finals which would be another super tie.

Ivory Coast are hosting AFCON and made it through to knockouts by the skin of their teeth after getting thumped 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea in one of their group games. They got pretty much the toughest opponents in Senegal. Both themselves and Morocco are looking like the teams to beat.

All the highlights of every game in both competitions are available on Youtube.

Acosta

The commentators on this are atrocious

HalloweenJack

I saw bits of that Tajikistan UAE game and Tajikistan really should have finished them off in the second half. They had plenty of chances to score.on the break.

The Ivory Coast are a joke. Sacking their manager when they still had a chance to qualify from the groups and now they have an interim manager. The camp must be a madhouse.

Deeper Blue

How the ref didn't give that penalty to Ivory Coast in real time I have no clue, had he not given it via VAR I reckon you were looking at a riot. Some great pens in the shootout.

You'd imagine Ivory Coast would back themselves to get to the final now, very open side of the draw.

Brussels Sprout

Saudi Arabia 1-0 up against South Korea with 15 mins to go. Korea were favourites but it's basically like a home game for the Saudis so they'll have that advantage. I'd imagine Spurs will delighted if it remains like this and they can get Son back sooner than they were probably expecting.

Brussels Sprout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694429#Comment_121694429

What's even worse is he tried to book your man for diving after he was absolutely clattered.

Kiith

South Korea with a 99th minute equaliser.

klose

Egypt, Senegal & Morocco all gone in the last 16, would have been close to the top 3 favourites to win it outright.

Brussels Sprout

Incredible result for South Africa last night.

Senegal and all of the Arab nations gone before the quarter-finals is some shock.

All 8 remaining teams have a credible shot at winning it at this stage

Brussels Sprout

Syria are taking Iran to extra-time in the final last 16 match of the Asian Cup, which is a surprise.

Iran got a man red-carded in injury time at the end of normal time so extra-time could be interesting.

Brussels Sprout

Two quarter-finals pitting the best teams together and two that are a bit weaker:

Brussels Sprout

For the second knockout match in a row South Korea scored an equalizer deep into injury time. This time it was versus Australia and they went on to win it in extra-time. They should reach the final now as they'll be played Jordan in the semi-final.

Nigeria have also just beaten Angola 1-0 in the first AFCON quarter-final.

Oat23

Sonny just took the game over at the end. Won a penalty, let Hwang take it and then scored a great freekick himself in extra time. Legend.

trashcan

The Cape Verde/ South Africa game is live on BBC 3 this evening.

chopperbyrne

Some performance from Williams in that shootout. Four saves.

Brussels Sprout

AFCON still seems wide open. Ivory Coast seem like the worst of the 4 but they have had an uncanny knack of squeezing through in each round. Be great to see the DRC win it given that the country is perpetually in crisis

Iran & South Korea for the final of the Asian Cup I guess, although Qatar are the defending champions and have home advantage:

Brussels Sprout

South Korea have just gone 2-0 down to Jordan. They've made late late comebacks in each of the previous rounds. Can they do it once more....

Brussels Sprout

Jordan vs Qatar in the final. Did not see that coming!

Loafing Oaf

Is there a guy called shIthole on the South African team?

Deeper Blue

Afcon has been great in terms of excitement, hopefully the final isn't another 0-0 as that's the game most will watch/remember I'd imagine.

cj maxx

Silly trying a diving header there

cj maxx

1-1 now

~Rebel~

7 minutes added time for Nigeria to save this, 2-1 down.

~Rebel~

Cote d’Ivoire champs!

cj maxx

Thats the shade of orange Ireland could wear as a away strip

NIMAN

It was written in the stars that Haller would score the winner, after his previous health scare.

Brussels Sprout

A team has won a tournament after finishing third in the group stages before (Portugal - Euro 2016) but that must be the first time that a team has won a tournament after losing 2 of their 3 group stage games (not to mention that one of them was 4-0). Tough to say that they were the best team in the tournament but they were definitely the most resilient.

As for Qatar....winning back to back Asian Cups is some feat but I find it difficult to warm to a place that just throws money at things in such an obscene manner. Aside: It must have happened before but I can't think of another match where one team scored three goals and they were all scored by the same player from penalty kicks.