Deja Vu on the Pitch: Mali’s Three-Draw Route to AFCON 2025 Quarterfinals
AFCON 2025 in Morocco reveals a quirky historical parallel to 2019: teams advance from the group stage to the knockouts after three draws, with no wins on the board. Mali repeats the pattern by ousting Tunisia on penalties in the Round of 16 to set up a quarterfinal against Senegal. This echoes Benin’s 2019 run, when three draws propelled them forward before a penalty upset of Morocco. Mali finished second in a group that included Morocco, Zambia, and the Comoros, earning three points in total.