Four talented teams are into the semifinals of AFCON 2025, on January 14th, it’s Senegal vs Egypt and Nigeria vs Morocco, the host nation of the tournament. African football’s showcase semifinals are exciting matchups, here is your look at all the action.

Senegal vs Egypt

Liverpool fans were blessed to watch Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah produce magical moments at Anfield and beyond for their team. Now Mane’s Senegal will take on Salah’s Egypt in the AFCON 2025 semifinals. Senegal were the champions of this tournament in 2021 for the first time, defeating Egypt on penalties after a scoreless final. Egypt have won this trophy seven times, but it’s been more than a decade since they lifted it.

Senegal smothered Mali in the quarterfinals, Iliman Ndiaye scored the decisive goal for a 1-0 win where Senegal mostly controlled the flow of play and generated double the shots. Mali was playing a man down in the second half with Yves Bissouma (Tottenham) sent off, and also didn’t get a penalty chance they thought they deserved. Senegal’s play was not terribly impressive, but in tournament, knock out football, it’s survive and advance.

Egypt has scored three goals in both of their knockout stage matches, a 3-2 win over Ivory Coast was the quarterfinal result. That knocks out the defending champion, as Salah scored the ultimate goal for the Pharaohs. Rami Rabia and Omar Marmoush were the first half goal scorers, while Ivory Coast benefited from an own goal and had a magical late goal from Guela Doue on a difficult tap in that made the final 20 minutes exciting.

Due to Marmoush’s early goal, Egypt opted to play relatively defensively in the match, sitting back, absorbing pressure, and it paid off with the victory. That creates a semifinal where neither team took control of the game in their quarterfinal, Egypt are a defensively sound team, and Marmoush and Salah are the perfect dose of firepower to create a match winning difference. Senegal have talent, but Egypt look more trustworthy at this stage.

Prediction: Egypt 2 Senegal 1

Nigeria vs Morocco

Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams continued to run rampant for Nigeria in AFCON, as a 2-0 win over Algeria was decisive and sets them up as strong contenders to lift the title. Facing hosts Morocco won’t be easy, but Nigeria’s backline kept Algeria under wraps in the quarterfinal, and Osimhen is playing inspired football at the moment with a goal and an assist in the quarterfinal.

The performance against Algeria would push Nigeria into a favorable position against the hosts Morocco. Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz is the talisman for the Atlas Lions. He scored in a 2-0 win over Cameroon in the quarterfinals and has five goals in four matches. With both teams coming off such resounding quarterfinal results, this matchup is a battle of titans. Despite missing the World Cup, it’s hard to argue Nigeria may have the most talented AFCON roster right now, with Morocco under pressure at home, this feels like Nigeria’s moment.

Prediction: Nigeria 3 Morocco 2

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