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00:00 An often dramatic group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations is now over. That means eight
00:07 teams are heading home, among them some of the highest ranked at the tournament.
00:13 Algeria for example, 30th in FIFA's global ranking. They finished bottom in Group D,
00:20 which was won by 117th ranked Angola. Algeria was unceremoniously dumped from the competition
00:27 on Tuesday in a 1-0 defeat to Mauritania, 105th in the world rankings.
00:34 That was just one of a series of giant killing performances at this year's AFCON, resulting
00:39 in the likes of Ghana and Tunisia also heading home. Algeria and Tunisia's coaches have
00:45 stepped down, Ghana's was fired.
00:50 Qualification for the last 16 has gone to the top two teams from each group and the
00:54 four best third-placed teams. For Namibia, that meant joy, as they qualified for the
01:00 knockout stage for the first time ever.
01:03 For Ivory Coast, it's relief. The AFCON hosts avoided an embarrassing early exit thanks
01:10 to Morocco's 1-0 victory over Zambia on Wednesday. Nevertheless, coach Jean-Louis Gasset has
01:16 been fired after the Ivorians succumbed 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea on Monday, the worst
01:22 loss ever inflicted on an AFCON host.
01:27 They've also got a tough task ahead. The Ivorians will play current champion Senegal, who've
01:33 won every match of their tournament so far, for a place in the quarter-finals against
01:37 either Burkina Faso or Mali.
01:40 The round of 16 matches begin on Saturday when Angola take on Namibia and Nigeria play
01:46 Cameroon. Sunday's matches are Equatorial Guinea versus Guinea and Egypt against Democratic
01:51 Republic of Congo. Cape Verde against Mauritania on Monday and World Cup semi-finalists Morocco
01:57 clash with South Africa on Tuesday.
02:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]