It’s full steam ahead at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Wednesday’s action saw the final two teams book their place in the quarter-finals, where they will join Burkina Faso, Tunisia, The Gambia, Cameroon, Senegal and Morocco in the last eight.

Let’s dive right in.

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AFCON’s wild lack of goals continued on Wednesday as the Ivory Coast played out a goalless draw with Egypt that went all the way to penalties.

There had been plenty of chances during the game, with Egypt arguably enjoying more, but Manchester United centre-back Eric Bailly was in imperious form as he repelled everything that came his way.

Unfortunately for Bailly, he went from hero to villain in the shoot-out as his effort – a bizarre, one-step strike – was kept out by Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, allowing Mohamed Salah to step up and convert the winning penalty.

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Didn’t even want any goals anyway…

Mali and Equatorial Guinea both enjoyed a lot of shots on goal but a massive lack of quality in the final third kept shots on target to a real minimum and the action went to penalties for the second time of the day.

That inability to find the net spilled over into the shoot-out. Emilio Nsue missed the first effort for the away side, Mali missed two a little while in and Equatorial Guinea had another one saved to send it to sudden death.

Ultimately, it was Falaye Sacko of Mali who missed the decisive effort, and Equatorial Guinea waltzed on to the last eight.

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