Gabadinho Mhango scored the arguably the goal of the tournament as Malawi bowed out of AFCON 2021 in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Morocco.
There have been some stunning on-pitch moments at AFCON 2021, but not always for the right reasons. There was the debacle around Zambian official Janny Sikazwe as well as the gaffe which saw the wrong anthem played was played for Mauritania.
However, as we head into the business end of the competition, the quality of Africa’s top players has deservedly stolen back the on-pitch spotlight. I say on-pitch of course, because of the tragic loss of life outside the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé on Monday night.
Turning attention back to matters on the pitch, Mhango netted an absolute stunner for Malawi give his side the lead in their round of 16 tie against Morocco. The Orlando Pirates forward picked the ball near the halfway line and unleashed a thunderbolt which beat Bono all ends up in the Moroccan goal.
Unfortunately for the Southern Africans, it wasn’t enough to see them through to the quarter-finals as goals from Youssef En-Nesyri and Achraf Hakimi would hand the Atlas Lions passage to the next round.
🇲🇼 Gabadinho Mhango’s stunning effort wins our #GoalOfTheDay award! 🎯 #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 | #TeamMalawi | @1xBet_Eng pic.twitter.com/Vv4iCQ8goI
— #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 🏆 (@CAF_Online) January 25, 2022
Mhango’s strike came around 24 hours after another Puskas Award contender. Youssouf M’Changama’s stunning free-kick for Comoros against Cameroon – a game the archipelago nation would lose 2-1.
In one of the bravest performances you’re likely to see on the international stage, Comoros were forced to start left-back Chaker Allhadur between the sticks against hosts Cameroon.
All three of their goalkeepers were missing through Covid as well as injury with around half of their squad not being able to take part in the match due to positive Covid tests.
The makeshift keeper put in a memorable display, using tape to mark out his number three on the back of the goalkeeper shirt. To make matters worse for the minnows, they had centre-half Jimmy Abdou sent off in the seventh minute.
They’d eventually concede in the 29th and 70th minute with goals from Karlo Toko Ekambi and Vincent Aboubakar. However, M’Changama stole the show with an absolute peach of a free-kick to pull one back for the minnows.
While it wasn’t enough to see them through to the quarter-finals, the nation of just under 870 000 inhabitants can be proud of their performance at the tournament, with their historic 3-2 win over Ghana one of the great upsets at the African showpiece.
🇰🇲 A magnificent strike from Youssouf M’Changama#TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 | #TeamComoros | #GoalOfTheDay | @1xBet_Eng pic.twitter.com/hrK61j0vUN
— #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 🏆 (@CAF_Online) January 25, 2022
Gambia, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal have all booked their places in the quarter-finals. The last two rounds of 16 matches see Ivory Coast taking on Egypt and Mali facing off against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday.
