Of the eight sides contesting the quarter-finals at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Friday and Saturday, only Mali has never lifted the crown.
That they have even reached the last eight has brought tributes from the Mali boss Tom Saintfiet, who hailed his players as "heroes" following their comeback in adversity against Tunisia in the last 16.
Reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of defender Woyo Coulibaly in the 26th minute, they conceded a goal in the 88th minute but managed to level in second-half stoppage time.
They held off Tunisia during 30 minutes of extra time and then twice came from behind in the penalty shootout to win it and move into the last eight.
"Before the game against Tunisia, I said my team were already heroes," said Saintfiet.
"And now there is no other word. Every player fought for their country and did everything to stay in this competition."
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Mali vs Senegal
Senegal, Mali's opponents in the first quarter-final on Friday, are unlikely to be as munificent as Tunisia. They topped their group with composed displays.
They dismissed Botswana 3-0 to kick off their 2025 campaign and then went toe-to-toe with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a rugged stalemate before pulverizing Benin to top the group on goal difference ahead of the DRC.
And Senegal downed a vibrant Sudan side in the last 16. They absorbed the pressure and took their chances clinically.
"The match against Mali requires a great deal of respect for a brother country," said Senegal boss Pape Thiaw on the eve of the game.
"We will be facing a committed team that poses a strong physical challenge. It is a team that is hungry for victory."
Since taking over from Aliou Cissé, the coach who led Senegal to the 2021 Cup of Nations crown in Cameroon, Thiaw has kept faith with Cissé's spine of now thirtysomethings: goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, defender Kalidou Koulibaly, midfielder Idrissa Gueye and striker Sadio Mané. Collectively, they boast experience from playing for the likes of Napoli, Everton, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
Thiaw, a former Senegal international, has also drafted in youngsters such as Paris Saint-Germain's 17-year-old starlet Ibrahim Mbaye, who has introduced himself to football quiz geeks as the youngest player to score a goal at the Cup of Nations in the 21st century and the youngest Senegal player to score at the competition since its inception in 1957.
Egypt and Nigeria enter last-16 fray as favourites against Benin and Mozambique
Morocco vs Cameroon
Following Mali and Senegal's encounter in Tangier, hosts Morocco will play Cameroon in front of nearly 70,000 fans at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Despite Morocco's status as Africa's top team in the Fifa rankings, a 23-match winning streak and hosting the month-long football fest, Morocco boss Walid Regragui claimed the West Africans were under more pressure as they, unlike Morocco, had not qualified for the 2026 World Cup.
"If they go no further they will have to wait two or three more years for another major tournament," said the former Morocco international. "We also have something to lose because we are at home, but in four months we have the World Cup so we have another competition to play.
"That is why Cameroon will be motivated, more than usual. There is pressure on us but on them too."
In the English Premier League, in the days when Alex Ferguson's Manchester United were serial trophy winners, such comments would have been categorised as "Fergie mind games".
Regragui's gambit, though, highlights his team's struggles. They are into the last eight as expected but theirs has not been an imperious voyage.
A 1-0 win over Tanzania, a team 101 places beneath them in the world rankings, was not on the pre-tournament menu.
Nigeria vs Algeria
Instead, the Nigerians have been providing the pyrotechnics. Of the quarter-finalists, they have scored the most: 12.
But the Super Eagles – as Nigeria are nicknamed – have been soaring away from their duties at the other end of the field. They possess the worst defensive record. They were breached four times as they racked up eight goals during the group stages before their 4-0 waltz past Mozambique in the last 16 in Fes.
"I'm happy with this game," said Nigeria boss Eric Chelle. "A victory with four goals but in reality we did nothing. If we want to be ambitious we have to keep this quality and improve."
Algeria will be a far sterner test on Saturday afternoon in Marrakesh.
Like the Nigerians, they won all three of their pool matches to advance to the knockout stages for the first time since they claimed the Cup of Nations trophy in Egypt in 2019 – the first Cup of Nations tournament to feature 24 teams.
Adil Boulbina's screamer of a shot into the top right-hand corner in the dying seconds of extra time provided the last-16 game against DRC with a spectacular finale, but Algeria had been the more adventurous of the teams.
Côte d'Ivoire vs Egypt
Côte d'Ivoire's run to the 2023 title went beyond adventure into psychedelia. A humiliating defeat, a coach sacked, a new man appointed, almost missing out on the knockout stages and then a series of teams failing to kill them off before the surge to glory.
Two years on, Emerse Faé, who replaced Jean-Louis Gasset, has enhanced his renown by steering his Cup of Nations-winning squad to the World Cup.
Egypt will be in the United States, Canada and Mexico too during the summer.
And they will be the next opponents for Faé's team. Egypt have not lifted the title since claiming an unprecedented hat trick in 2010 in Angola to take their tally up to seven.
The Egyptians will go into the clash in Agadir aiming to produce a more convincing performance than their 3-1 victory over Benin, who took them to extra time before they succumbed to strikes from Yasser Ibrahim and Mohamed Salah.
Côte d'Ivoire striker Amad Diallo, who scored one and set up another in his team's 3-0 last-16 win over Burkina Faso on Tuesday, acknowledged that the Egyptians were unlikely to be as flaky against the Ivorians.
"We showed our quality and respected our opponent," the 23-year-old told broadcaster beIN Sports.
"Next up it will be Egypt," added Diallo, as he clutched his second man-of-the-match award of the 2025 tournament. "That will be a difficult match."
