Nigeria are through to the last four at an Africa Cup of Nations for the 17th time in their last 20 appearances at the finals.
It is a remarkable record of consistency that is better than the other three protagonists who will be playing in Wednesday’s semifinals at the tournament in Morocco.
Egypt, who have been to more Cup of Nations finals than any other country plus won the tournament more times, have had 16 past semifinal appearances, but that has come in 27 separate editions since the first tournament in 1957, which they won.
This will be the seventh time that Senegal are in a Cup of Nations semifinaI while for host Morocco, it is a sixth time.
Getting through the semifinal appearances to the final is harder, with Morocco featuring in only two finals, Senegal in three, Nigeria in eight and Egypt in 10.
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The first of Wednesday’s semifinals in Tangier sees Egypt and Senegal continue their recent tussles.
They played against each other in Yaounde, Cameroon, in the 2021 Cup of Nations final, which ended goalless after extra time and then saw Sadio Mane convert the winning kick in the post-match penalty shootout to hand Senegal their first continental title.
A month later, they were paired together again in the decisive qualifying playoff for the World Cup in Qatar, with Egypt winning the first leg in Cairo, courtesy of a fourth-minute own goal.
The return leg in Dakar four days later saw Senegal equalise the aggregate scoreline through Hamdy Fathy’s own goal, also going in after four minutes. With the teams level on aggregate after 90 minutes, the tie had to be decided on penalties, with Mohamed Salah squandering Egypt’s first kick and his Liverpool teammate Mane again blasting home the winning penalty.
Nigeria and Morocco will clash in Wednesday’s second semifinal in Rabat in a first meeting since the 2004 Cup of Nations finals in Tunisia.
Morocco beat Nigeria 1-0 in Monastir in the group competition, which also included Bafana Bafana.
There is a good omen for both in terms of beating the other in the Cup of Nations tournament. When Morocco won the 1976 edition in Ethiopia, they beat Nigeria twice en route to the trophy. And when Nigeria hosted in 1980 and won their first title, they edged Morocco 1-0 in the semifinal.
In the 18 past meetings between the two countries, there have been eight wins for Morocco, six for Nigeria and four draws. The first 11 clashes between the countries all produced a winner before a series of four successive goalless draws.