Nigeria’s Super Eagles will play the Mambas of Mozambique in the last 16 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations following the completion of the group stage phase of the tournament on Wednesday.
The Eagles already qualified for the knockout phase since last week Saturday but had to wait until the last round of group matches to discover the opponent they would be facing in the round of 16 at the Fes Stadium on January 5.
Despite the Mozambicans falling to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Cameroon on Wednesday night, they qualified for the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams, with Cameroon and Ivory Coast picking the two automatic tickets from Group F.
In the game, Geny Catamo gave Mozambique the lead in the 23rd minute before Cameroon equalised five minutes later after Nene put the ball into his own net. Christian Kofane scored 10 minutes after the break to win the match for the Indomitable Lions.
The result meant that Cameroon finished the group on the same seven points with Ivory Coast, which pulled off an impressive two-goal deficit comeback to beat Gabon 3-2 at Marrakech Stadium in the second Group C game.
Guelor Kanga put Gabon ahead in the 11th minute before Denis Bouanga doubled the advantage in the 21st minute. However, Wilfred Zaha pulled one back for the defending champions just before halftime.
In the 84th minute, Ivory Coast equalised through Evann Guessand and Bazoumana Toure completed the dramatic comeback in added time.
Earlier in the day, Algeria had defeated Equatorial Guinea 3-1 to join Nigeria as the only two teams with perfect records following the completion of the group stage.
Zineddine Belaid, Fares Chaibi and Ibrahim Maza scored the Algerian goals in the game. Last tournament’s highest goalscorer winner Emilio Nsue scored Equatorial Guinea’s only goal of the Group E encounter.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso beat Sudan in the second Group E match. Lassina Traore opened the scoring for the Burkinabes 16 minutes into the tie with Arsene Kouassi doubling the score-line five minutes from normal time.
Full round of 16 fixtures
Morocco vs Tanzania
Mali vs Tunisia
Algeria vs DR Congo
Egypt vs Benin
Senegal vs Sudan
Nigeria vs Mozambique
Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso
South Africa vs Cameroon