The past matches of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations have been riddled with superb goals, great performances on the pitch, and entertainment.There have been no reasons not to catch a match either at the stadium, on television, or on whichever legal channel as the tournament has been serving nothing short of greatness.However, there were no goals for the first time since the tournament started as teams tucked in Pool E failed to have the ball in the net in their respective final group stage match.##NAJAVA_MECA_7822185##It is safe to conclude that we witnessed boring matches in the tournament for the first time all thanks to South Africa, Tunisia, Mali, and Namibia.The barren draws might have left fans incensed but meant everything for Namibia who have qualified for the round of sixteen for the first time after holding Mali.Namibia frustrated Mali to a barren draw at the Laurent Pokou Stadium although they had to deal with a nervy ending to pick the point.Coming from a heavy 4-0 defeat suffered in the hands of South Africa, many thought that Mali would make the light work of Namibia but they managed to contain the pre-match favourites to secure passage to the knockout stage.He fooled them twice but not the third time: Belmadi sacked by AlgeriaAt some point, Namibia dominated proceedings and asked questions in the Malian area but were not sharp enough to penetrate through.The interesting bit about Namibia is a single goal has been enough to see them through to the round of sixteen.They beat Tunisia 1-0 in the opener before losing to their neighbors Bafana Bafana in the subsequent game.The four points accumulated placed them third and thus will advance as one of the best losers.While their single goal was enough to carry them through, it wasn’t the case for Tunisia as they kissed the tournament farewell after playing South Africa to a 0-0 draw at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.Tunisia were expected to ease past opponents in the pool and get to the knockout phase but have been underwhelming, scoring a single goal in three matches.Kenyan striker Jesse Were returns to Zesco UnitedThe Carthage Eagles managed two points as they played Mali to a 1-1 draw in their second group stage match.Meanwhile, the two draws played out on Wednesday might be what host Ivory Coast needs to qualify.The Elephants will hope that DR Congo or Zambia will loses in their matches against Tanzania and Morocco respectively.AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGERound 3Monday Ivory Coast – Equatorial Guinea 0-4 (0-1)/Nsue 45, 57, Ganet 73, Buyla 88/Nigeria – Guinea Bissau 1-0 (1-0)/Sangante 36/Cape Verde – Egypt 2-2 (1-0)/Benchimol 45+1, Texeira 90+9 – Trezeguet 50, Mohamed 90+3/Mozambique – Ghana 2-2 (0-1)/Catamo 90+1 pen, Mandava 90+4 – J Ayew 15 pen, 67 pen/TuesdayGuinea 0 Senegal 2 /Seck 61, Ndiaye 90/Gambia 2 Cameroon 3 /Jallow 72, E. Colley 85 – Toko Ekambi 56, Gomez 87-og, Wooh 90+1/Mauritania – Algeria 1-0 (1-0)/Yali 37/Angola – Burkina Faso 1-0 (1-0)/Mabululu 36/WednesdayMali – Namibia 0-0 (0-0)Tunisia – South Africa 0-0 (0-0)23.00: (6.50) Zambia (3.80) Morocco (1.58)23.00: (6.00) Tanzania (3.70) Dr Congo (1.62)***odds are subject to change
