Afcon 2015, Group Stage: Cinderella stories, Claude Le Roy, drawing of lots, and more.

Blink and you'll have missed the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations. It feels like just yesterday when South Africans were drinking the Kool-Aid and expected Bafana Bafana to make it out of the group of death. Now, we all hope that they do not take their dogs for a walk anytime soon, because they cannot hold on to a lead.

While some will say the tournament has been low key, especially because the FA Cup has been particularly magical this season. But there has been plenty to talk about since the tournament kicked off almost two weeks ago. We’re now into the business end and things are going to get serious.

On Saturday, the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations will see a Congo derby while Tunisia and hosts Equatorial Guinea square off against each other. Sunday will see Ghana and Guinea up against each other while a plucky Ivory Coast team comes up against tournament favourites Algeria.

Before all that, though, time to reflect on the group stages.

Claude LeRoy, the Africa Cup of Nations veteran

Under Claude LeRoy's guidance, Congo have made a surprise run into the quarter-finals of the tournament. From a team perspective, it was a remarkable achievement. For the Frenchman, it's also a personal milestone. LeRoy has been in charge of five different African teams since he first took charge of Cameroon back in 1985. With so much focus on the lack of local coaches, LeRoy’s achievements are significant, because it shows that foreign coaches can bring in the results.

During his stint with Cameroon, he took the Lions to the final in 1986, where they would eventually lose Egypt. Two years later, Cameroon beat Nigeria to lift the trophy, also with LeRoy at the helm.

Next up for LeRoy was Senegal, who he took to fourth spot during the 1990 competition and the quarter-finals two years after that. The Frenchman had a brief spell in Europe, but soon returned to Africa. He took charge of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 2004-2006 and led them to the Afcon quarter-finals. He left DRC and took charge of Ghana where he tasted more success. The Black Stars finished third in the 2008 tournament. In 2011, he returned to DRC, but his second stint didn’t bring much success. In 2013, he swapped the DRC for Congo and will now meet his old team in a quarter-final derby which is not to be missed.

The oddity of the drawing of lots

Mali and Guinea were left with identical records after drawing all of their games 1-1. The names of the teams were placed in two little balls and a CAF official had the honour of picking a ball to decide which team progresses. Guinea were the lucky team to make it through, but before that was decided, neither coach was happy with the rule.

During Euro 2008, UEFA decided that instead of the drawing of lots, Turkey and the Czech Republic would settle things through penalties if they drew their final group match, which would have given them identical records. Turkey won 3-2, so penalties weren’t needed.

Drawing of lots has only happened before in Afcon back in 1988 when Algeria advanced ahead of Ivory Coast. It had also happened during the 1954 World Cup qualifiers when Turkey and Spain were tied and Turkey advanced to the tournament finals. During the 1990 World Cup, the drawing of lots was used to determine which group finished top of their group after Netherland and Ireland were tied on points.

The Cinderella story of the host nation

Equatorial Guinea weren’t even supposed to be part of the tournament. During qualifiers, they were booted out for fielding an ineligible player. Cameroon-born Thierry Fidieu Tazemeta played for Equatorial Guinea against Mauritania last year without properly changing his affiliation. After months of absence from competitive football, they were given a lifeline when Morocco pulled out of hosting the tournament due to Ebola fears and Equatorial Guinea were given a crack as hosts. Against all the odds, they have made it to the quarter-finals but a tough clash against Tunisia awaits them.

CAF and logic in one sentence: The relocation of the quarter-finals

It’s not often that logic and CAF are used in the same sentence, but give credit where it is due. Although moving games is an unprecedented move, logic dictated that it was the right one.

Deteriorating pitches in Ebebiyin and Mongomo as well as small capacity stadiums prompted the quarter-finals to be moved to Bata and Malambo. One of the biggest concerns was the quarter-final between the host nation and Tunisia, which would have been played at the 5000-capacity stadium in Ebebiyin.

Throughout the tournament, there were a number of instances where brief moments of chaos which saw fans overflowing into the press box and cases where fans clashed with police. During Equatorial Guinea's second group game against Burkina Faso, supporters faced long delays getting into the stadiums and clashes with police followed. Fans threw stones and bottles and police responded with smoke grenades, but no serious injuries were reported.

Part of the reason for the long queues is the fact that fans are having their temperatures checked and are then asked to clean their hands with sanitising gel as they enter stadiums as fears over Ebola rumble on. DM

Photo: Henri Bedimo of Cameroon (L) fights for the ball with Tallo Gadji Junior of Ivory Coast during their Group D soccer match of the 2015 African Cup of Nations in Malabo January 28, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh