AFCON hosts Ivory Coast sneak through into knockout stages despite sacking their manager on Wednesday after Zambia were beaten by Morocco… as last-16 ties are revealed

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast dramatically qualified for the last-16 – just a day after they sacked manager Jean-Louis Gasset. 

There were major recriminations for the hosts after a 4-0 hammering by Equatorial Guinea, which left them with three points from three games in their group.

Gasset paid with his job but Ivory Coast reached the last-16 courtesy of Zambia’s defeat to Morocco, which was cheered across the host country. 

It was to be Zambia and Ghana, who saw striker Inaki Williams return to Athletic Bilbao with a bang against Barcelona, who were the two unlucky third placed teams not to progress. 

While Morocco’s 1-0 win over Zambia brought the only goal from Wednesday’s games, nobody in Namibia was complaining as their 0-0 draw with Mali saw them reach AFCON’s knockout stages for the first time ever. 

Zambia’s defeat was agonising for stars like Patson Daka, but meant Ivory Coast progressed

Namibia stunned much-fancied Tunisia 1-0 in their opening group game for the country’s first ever AFCON win.

A 4-0 drubbing at the hands of South Africa on matchday two left them needing a point from their final group match, which they secured in a hard-fought draw.

AFCON’s knockout stages is made up of the top two teams from each of the six groups, as well as the four best third-placed teams. 

As well as Ghana’s dramatic elimination, Algeria were one of the biggest casualties of the group stages as they were also sent home.

The 2019 finalists staggeringly finished bottom of Group D.

Cameroon face a tricky task against Nigeria in the last-16 but will be inspired by Gambia win

Mauritania have been one of the stories of the tournament so far as they reached the last-16

As well as Algeria, Ghana, and Zambia, the sides to be eliminated after the group stages were Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Gambia, Tunisia, and Tanzania.

Only Senegal, who won the last AFCON back in 2021, finished the group with a perfect three-win record. 

Equatorial Guinea edged out Nigeria to win Group A on goal difference, while Cape Verde beat Mohamed Salah’s Egypt to top spot in Group B.

Angola won Group D, Mali topped Group E while Morocco, who Ivory Coast have to thank for helping them get this far, finished top of the pile in Group F. 

Despite losing two of their three matches, minnows Mauritania progressing has been one of the stories of the tournament. They face Cape Verde next.