Why you should buy tickets for the AFCON 2023 final now

The AFCON has reached the semi-final stage, and now is the best time to buy tickets for the final.

Several top players from Europe represented their country in the competition from mid-January, and most of them are back at their respective clubs as the competition has just four nations left.

The AFCON is being played in the same time as the Asian Cup, but it has taken the shine off the Asian competition.

The likes of Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez, Achraf Hakimi and Victor Osimhen are representing their countries in the competition, which adds to the flavour.

The top African nations in the FIFA Rankings ahead of the competition were all knocked out before the quarterfinal stage, which made the competition even more interesting to watch.

We did not expect to see the likes of Hakimi, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah leave the competition so early, but with underdogs like DR Congo, Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea defying the odds and going far in the competition, it was only a matter of time before there were casualties.

Is AFCON the most unpredictable competition so far?

Very few people across the world cared about AFCON when it began, and even some Africans continued to follow the different European leagues where they support top clubs.

However, as the competition kicked off, it became obvious that this is one of the most exciting and unpredictable tournaments.

It began with some unique and very impressive outcomes from games, with several top nations falling to shock defeats.

Ivory Coast opened the door with a win on the first night of action in the competition, however, they will go on to lose to Nigeria and the very impressive Equatorial Guinea in their other group games.

With Egypt and Ghana in the same group as Mozambique and Cape Verde, we expect both nations to qualify as the top two teams.

However, Egypt scraped through to the knockout stages, with no wins in three matches, while Ghana exited at the group stage, having lost to Cape Verde and dropped points against Egypt and Mozambique.

Algeria started their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Angola, and they never recovered as they suffered further setbacks against Burkina Faso and Mauritania, famously losing to the latter nation.

Tunisia started their campaign with a shock loss against Namibia, which set the tone for their performance in the competition as they drew their next two games to Mali and South Africa to leave at the group stages.

At the last World Cup, Morocco made history by becoming the first African country to reach the semi-final, where only France could stop them.

They had defied the odds in that competition and eliminated Spain and Portugal in the knockout stages to reach the semi-final.

With that achievement, most fans across the world expected them to coast through the AFCON and win the competition, after all, they have shown that they are the best country on the continent.

They comfortably defeated Tanzania in their first game but struggled to bag a draw against DR Congo in their next match, which surprised everyone.

Then, they rounded up the group stage with a narrow 1-0 win against Zambia to finish the group stage unbeaten.

It still seemed certain they would do well and perhaps become the champions of the continent after the final in February.

However, in the Round of 16, South Africa stunned them with a 2-0 win, after Hakimi had missed a spot kick that could have made life easier for them when the score was 1-0.

SA went on to score the second in the closing minutes of the game, and the Atlas Lions were dumped out of the competition.

Two years ago, they were the heroes of Africans across the world, but they could not make the quarterfinals of this AFCON, which shows how upsetting any game can be at the competition and gives even more reasons why you should watch the final.

An underdog story could be on the cards

Nigeria is the only nation people expected to do well at the AFCON among the four nations still left in the competition.

The Super Eagles have built their success on a solid defence that has been difficult to penetrate in the competition.

They do not have a strong midfield, but down in attack, Moses Simon, Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen are causing problems.

However, this does not make them the favourites to win this tournament, and the pattern of upsets so far shows they could lose to South Africa in the semi-final.

We now have a good chance of an underdog becoming the champions of Africa by the end of the competition.

In the other semi-final, Ivory Coast would face DR Congo, who have slayed Egypt and Guinea in the knockout stages to reach here.

The Congolese are arguably the most unfancied side still left in the competition because everyone else has won the AFCON in the last three decades, but they have not.

They now have a chance to do better than reaching the semi-final stage of the competition in 2015. Can they go all the way and win it? 

Guarantee of at least one beautiful goal

Surprisingly, this AFCON has been filled with many impressively taken goals, and we could see at least one in the final.

The competition was generally considered of inferior quality to the Asian Cup and the Euros, but the players have scored some remarkable goals so far.

This is helped by the fact that so many of these players ply their trade abroad in the major European Leagues.

Some were even born in foreign nations before switching allegiance to play for African countries, but there have been others who came from the local leagues and scored wonder strikes.

Mabululu’s goals against Namibia will probably win the Goal of the Tournament after his superb strike trended across the world.

The Al Ittihad of Egypt striker’s goal is the type you will only see from some of the best players in the world or on video games.

Seko Fofana also scored a brilliant goal for the Ivory Coast in the first game of the competition, while Nene Dorgeles’ strike for Mali against the hosts in the quarterfinal is also a contender for the Goal of the Tournament.

We will see more goals in the semi-final, and some could be superbly made, and the final could also be won by the best goal in the competition so far.