Tomorrow, the world’s eyes will turn to the semi-final matches of the Africa Cup Of Nations, after a tournament full of excitement and surprises, where firstly, Nigeria will meet South Africa, and then Ivory Coast will face the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nigeria advanced from their group as second behind Equatorial Guinea.
After that, they defeated Cameroon and Angola in the knockout stages while South Africa advanced as second in Group E behind Mali in a group that included Tunisia and Namibia.
After that, they defeated Morocco and Cape Verde in the knockout stages.
Ivory Coast advanced from Group A as third among the best four third-placed teams in a group that included Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau.
Then, they defeated Senegal on penalties and Mali in the 120th minute in the knockout stages.
Congo advanced as second in Group E after Morocco in a group that includes Zambia and Tanzania.
They defeated Egypt on penalties and then Guinea in the quarter-finals.
Perhaps you noticed that no team that topped its group could reach the semi-finals in this exciting tournament.
In this tactical analysis, we will take a look at the most important tactics of the four AFCON semi-finalists, explaining their strengths and weaknesses.
We will also explain what they intend to do in attack and defence while highlighting the influential players in their journey throughout the tournament.
Nigeria
Niderias attack was excellent in AFCON qualification.
They scored 22 goals, far from the second, Mali, who scored 15 goals.
They depended on 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 as the primary formation, but in the first match of the tournament, they drew 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea.
Although they were good going forward, their pressing system wasnt successful.
Lets see why!
As shown below, they press with a 4-3-3 shape, asking one of the two attacking midfielders, Alex Iwobi in this case, to go forward, with Victor Osimhen pressing the other centre-back.
At the same time, the two wingers stand narrow, ready to press the opponents full-backs.
Equatorial Guineas shape in the build-up was 4-2-3-1 with two wide full-backs and narrow wingers.
Their number ten holds Nigerias six away, so Equatorial Guineas two pivots are against only one Nigerian midfielder, which makes Iwobi hesitate to press and also forces the far winger to keep narrow to help.
Hence, the goalkeeper passes a long ball directly to the wide full-back while the winger keeps the Nigerian full-back narrow, as in the second photo below.
This puts Nigeria against two choices.
Either to have their pressure broken,
