Hope and miracles: Afcon’s unlikely semi-finalists carry weight of history

06-Feb-2024 17:23:00 | The Guardian

Nigeria and Ivory Coast start favourites over South Africa and DR Congo but this has been a tournament of remarkable upsets

A tournament of extraordinary drama has thrown up two semi-finals that each match one of the continent’s current giants against a team that has distant memories of glory. Neither South Africa nor Democratic Republic of the Congo arrived at the Africa Cup of Nations with especially elevated hopes but on Wednesday they face Nigeria and the hosts Ivory Coast respectively for a place in the final.

Ivory Coast, whose golden generation spent so long narrowly missing out on the trophy, are, like their opponents, looking to win the tournament for the third time. The difference is that it is 50 years since DRC last triumphed. They were one of the early powers of African football, winning the tournament in 1968 and then again, as Zaire, in 1974, the year in which they became the first sub-Saharan African side to play at the World Cup.