The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco reaches the semi-final stage this week, with two intriguing ties on the horizon. A tournament that has often delivered shocks and surprises in recent editions has taken on a more familiar look this time around, with four of Africa’s biggest footballing nations all progressing to the last four.
The only real surprise so far has been the absence of Cape Verde and Ghana. Despite both qualifying for the World Cup, neither side managed to reach this edition of the African Cup of Nations, a failure that stands as the biggest surprise.
Senegal v Egypt
The first semi-final is a repeat of the 2022 final as Senegal meet Egypt in what is set to be an exciting battle. Not only did Senegal earn silverware by defeating Egypt in the final back in 2022, but they also added further punishment by beating them 2-1 over two legs to book their place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Senegal come into this match following a 1-0 victory over Mali in the previous round. Iliman Ndiaye opened the scoring inside 27 minutes for Senegal, before Yves Bissouma was shown a red card for Mali, their third dismissal of the tournament.
It was a well-worked move by Senegal as they put together a brilliant attacking play. A cross into the box from Krepin Diatta caused problems for the Mali defence, with Mali’s goalkeeper Djigui Diarra failing to deal with what should have been a routine delivery. It led to a scramble in the box, and Iliman Ndiaye, of Premier League side Everton, was on hand to turn it home.
Senegal dominated the possession and created the majority of the chances. The only negative was that they were not more clinical in front of goal, something they’ll have to be in this fixture, where chances will be limited.
Their opponents, Egypt, played on Saturday night as they took on the Ivory Coast, and it was a well-structured and disciplined performance from the Pharaohs. They played to their strengths, sitting deep and looking to hit on the break, using the pace of Omar Marmoush and Mohammed Salah up front to cause problems for the Ivory Coast defence.
Egypt’s game plan was given the perfect platform when Marmoush opened the scoring inside the first four minutes. Then, just after the half-hour mark, a Salah corner found the head of Ramy Rabia, who powered Egypt into a two-goal lead.
Ivory Coast pulled one back just before the break after an own goal from Ahmed Fatouh, who failed to deal with a free kick, sending the sides into half-time with Egypt narrowly leading 2–1.
In the second half, Egypt restored their two-goal cushion thanks to a delightful outside-of-the-foot pass by Emam Ashour that found Salah, who found the net to restore Egypt’s two-goal lead.
Egypt were then made to sweat when the Ivory Coast struck again, as Guela Doue found the net after Egypt failed to properly deal with another set-piece.
Despite the pressure late on, Egypt held firm and showed their resilience to progress, where they will be hoping for revenge on a Senegal side who have caused them so much heartache over the last few years.
Morocco v Nigeria
The second semi-final sees Nigeria take on hosts Morocco, a meeting that has not happened too often in recent years.
It’s a difficult one to call, and although the bookies favour Morocco, many would rather take their chances in an online poker match than predict the outcome of this particular fixture.
The two most recent clashes between the sides came in the African Nations Championship, a competition that only allows domestic-based players to represent their countries.
In terms of a major competitive fixture, you would have to go all the way back to 2004 for the last time they met, and on that occasion, it was Morocco who edged it 1-0 thanks to a goal from Youssouf Hadji.
Hosts Morocco are hoping to lift their first Africa Cup of Nations title since 1976. They reached the semi-final stage thanks to an impressive 2-0 victory over Cameroon in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Cameroon came into the match with a clear game plan, sitting deep and looking to frustrate Morocco.
Morocco opened the scoring when an Achraf Hakimi corner found Ayoub El Kaabi, who headed the ball on into the danger area, where Brahim Díaz got the decisive touch to flick it past the Cameroonian goalkeeper.
Then, 16 minutes from time, a free-kick delivery saw the ball fall kindly to Ismaël Saibari, who calmly brought it down before smashing the ball past Devis Epassy in the Cameroon goal to make it 2-0 and seal Morocco’s place in the last four.
They now take on a Nigerian side that were dominant against Algeria in the last round. After a first half where Nigeria controlled possession and created the better chances, they knew they needed to come out flying in the second half and make their dominance count. And they did exactly that…
Immediately after the restart, Bruno Onyemaechi whipped in a fantastic ball that was met by the head of Victor Osimhen, who rose highest to power it past the goalkeeper. Then, just ten minutes later, Nigeria wasted no time in doubling their lead, and it was the goalscorer involved again.
After some great work by Alex Iwobi, who is having a fantastic tournament, Osimhen played it on a plate for Akor Adams, who rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into an empty net to give Nigeria a well-deserved 2-0 victory. In truth, it could have been more for the Nigerians, who are firing on all cylinders and will be hoping to spoil the hosts’ party come Wednesday.
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