Also only scored 1 goal, the fate of the last championship and runner-up is different

The African Cup of Nations group stage has ended, with the giants and big stars mostly reaching the round of 16, while the last champions Algeria and the traditional strong team Ghana are out of the bottom of the group. Senegal, the last runner-up, scored just one goal in three group games, with an attacking power comparable to Algeria, but qualified first in the group.

The defending champion spell reappears

In recent years, it has been more difficult for the champion to defend the title and has become a curse. At the 2018 World Cup, 2014 World Cup champions Germany were out at the bottom of the group. At the European Championship last year, Portugal, the winner of the 2016 European Championship, only struggled to qualify as the third in the group, and was eliminated by Belgium in the quarterfinals. In this Year's Africa Cup, Algeria has not been able to get rid of the spell of the defending champions.

Algeria performed well at the last Africa Cup of Nations, with midfielder Benacell named The Most Valuable Player and four in the all-team squad, along with Bennacell and captain Mahrez, as well as midfielder Gédiola and goalkeeper Mbollich. By the time of the Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria was completely out of steam, scoring only 1 goal in three games and defending badly. In the first round of the Group E group stage, Algeria was forced to a 0-0 draw by the weak team Sierra Leone; in the second round, Algeria lost 0-1 to the weak team Equatorial Guinea, ending with 35 unbeaten games. In the third round of the group stage, Algeria lost 1-3 to Côte d'Ivoire and Mahrez conceded a penalty.

Senegal also performed poorly on the offensive end, with the only goal coming from a controversial penalty in the last minutes of injury time in the first round of the group stage, which was taken by the star Mane. With this goal, Senegal beat the weak zimbabwe 1-0. Despite the lackluster attacking line led by Mane, Senegal became the only team in the African Cup of Nations that did not concede a goal in the group stage, followed by two group matches in which Senegal drew 0-0 against Guinea and Malawi. In Group B, Senegal, which scored the fewest goals, finished first in the group with a record of 1 win and 2 draws, Zimbabwe, which scored the most goals (3 goals), was at the bottom of the group with 1 win and 2 losses, and Guinea and Malawi, which scored two goals, both had a record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, and also reached the round of 16.

Traditional strong teams have performed steadily

Cameroon and Nigeria are the traditional strong teams in Africa, known as the "African Lions" and "African Eagles" respectively, and Côte d'Ivoire is known as the "African Elephants", these three teams not only won the first place in their respective groups, but also broke out in full swing on the offensive end.

Hosts Cameroon scored seven goals in three group games, making it the team with the most goals. Captain Abubakar topped the Africa Cup of Nations top scorers with five goals, equaling Ighalo's goals when he won the last African Cup Of Nations Golden Boot.

Ivorian striker Alai is at the top of this season's Champions League top scorers list with 10 goals, but he scored just one goal in the African Cup of Nations group stage. Ivory Coast have a record of 2 wins and 1 draw, scoring 6 goals, the other 5 goals scored by Pepe (two goals), Casey, Gladell and Sangare (1 goal each).

In this Year's Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria was the only team to win all the group stages. Nigerian striker Ighalo won the last African Cup of Nations Golden Boot, and the veteran of the Chinese Super League will withdraw from the squad for this year's Africa Cup of Nations. While losing a major scorer, Nigeria played a beautiful multi-point offense. In the first two rounds of the group stage, Nigeria's attacking quartets Ihinacho, Chuk Uze, Avonniyi and Simon scored one goal each, and the "African Eagles" beat Egypt 1-0 and Sudan 3-1. After qualifying early, Nigeria, who came out of the bench for the third round, beat Guinea-Bissau 2-0.

Yangcheng Evening News reporter Liu Yi

Source: Yangcheng Evening News