Ivory Coast was unlucky, as the host of this edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, not only did they not put in a strong performance, but they lost face at home to Equatorial Guinea, a third-tier African team, 0-4. But Ivory Coast was lucky at the same time, because they were able to advance to the round of 16 after losing 0:4, avoiding the embarrassment of the host group being eliminated.
Of course, this is first and foremost thanks to the expansion of the Africa Cup of Nations. Previously, there were only 16 teams in the Africa Cup of Nations, with the top two teams in each group qualifying, and there would be no third place. However, after the expansion to 24 teams, the third place in the four groups with better results can also enter the knockout round. In fact, after losing 0:4 to Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire was on the verge of elimination, how to say it? Because they were all in Group A, the game was played earlier, so Côte d'Ivoire's mood at that time, just like the national football team, was waiting for the results of the later group games, because the initiative was no longer in their hands, and they had to look at the results of other games to know whether they were alive or dead. This feeling is too painful.
But Ivory Coast is at least a little more competitive than the national football team, because they have at least three points and have a certain right to speak, unlike the national football team, which holds only two points, which is called every day. If Ivory Coast is lucky, although the third place in the other groups has four points, Ghana and Zambia have saved them, because the third place in these two groups has only two points with the national team. Therefore, Ivory Coast has 3 points to enter the round of 16. However, it is also embarrassing that Ivory Coast are equal to pressing the line to advance, because they are third from the bottom of the six group results, in other words, in terms of group stage results alone, they are the last place in the round of 16.
That is why Côte d'Ivoire is both unfortunate and lucky. Unfortunately, they are far from being in the Drogba era. Luckily, they didn't go out of the group as hosts like South Africa did at the 2010 World Cup.
As the host, finishing third in the group and then being able to qualify, such a strange event is extremely rare. In the history of world football, Côte d'Ivoire is the second example of a decent tournament. Remember who the first one was?
The emphasis on decent tournaments is due to the fact that the third-place finish in the group would only happen in a 24-team tournament. Like the early Copa America, including the Asian Cup, there were very few teams and few groups, and in order to make up the size of the knockout round, even the fourth place in the group could qualify. Obviously, such a competition is not very decent, and it is not in the scope of today's discussion.
Okay, now for the answer, the first example, is the United States in the 1994 World Cup.
Everyone knows that South Africa is the first host in the history of the World Cup to go out of the group, but in fact, the United States in 1994 was also almost eliminated in the group stage. They are also stained with the light that the World Cup has not yet expanded. In fact, the grouping of the United States was very good at that time, although Romania, Colombia, and Switzerland all had some strength, they were not top teams. But the United States still lost to Romania and drew with Switzerland. And the reason why they can qualify is due to the victory over Colombia, and it is worth mentioning that the United States can beat Colombia because of Escobar's own goal.
In short, in that World Cup, the United States performed very mediocre, and they also finished third in the group and advanced in a thrilling way, just like Ivory Coast in this Africa Cup of Nations. Moreover, in that World Cup, the threshold for advancing to the third place in the group was very high, Belgium and Argentina both scored 6 points as the third in the group, so the United States got 4 points to advance, which was quite reluctant. It can be said that their luck is really good.
Finally, let's talk about the quarterfinals. The United States advanced as the third in the group that year, and the knockout round was definitely met by the top teams. At that time, they ran into Brazil, lost 0-1, and stopped there. In this Africa Cup of Nations, Ivory Coast faced Senegal in the quarterfinals, which was basically the same as the difficulty of the United States meeting Brazil that year. More than a decade ago, Côte d'Ivoire was definitely above Senegal, but now, it is too difficult for them to beat Senegal. Perhaps, the script they got was the script of the United States in the 94 World Cup. The final outcome is likely to be to stop in the first round of the knockout round.