Even before the quarter-final stage of the Africa Cup of Nations began, it can already be said that, in the 67 years of the tournament, there has never been such a championship in terms of the amount of sensations.
It can be declared: this is the Africa Cup of surprises.
It started with the eliminations already in the group stage of Algeria, Tunisia and Ghana, all national teams that won the title in the past.
It continued with the losses in the round of 16 of Egypt, the record holder of wins, and of Morocco, who only a little over a year ago reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.
The most interesting thing is the phenomenon that was discovered "along the way": when the quarter-final stage matches take place on Friday and Saturday, there will be no team from North Africa and no Arab team.
They are all at home.
The last eight all represent sub-Saharan Africa, Black Africa.
So it's true, among the eight there are national teams with tradition, those who won the title in the past, such as Nigeria, Ivory Coast and even South Africa.
But that cannot be said about Angola, about Mali, about Guinea, certainly not about Cabo Verde.
The former Portuguese colony is a small country that includes ten islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 600 km from the mainland, and only has about 600,000 inhabitants. Among the 55 African countries, there are only two with fewer inhabitants.
So little Cabo Verde will play in the quarter-finals (against South Africa), but Egypt, for its 112 million people, as well as Algeria (45 million), Morocco (38 million) and Tunisia (12 million) - are out.
Cabo Verde players celebrate, photo: AFP
This is the 34th African Championship, and it is only the third time that no Arab team has reached the quarterfinals.
The two previous times were in 1992 and 2013.
By the way, Mauritania is also an Arab country, only its case is different.
Unlike its famous neighbors from the north, it is considered one of the weakest on the continent.
This was her third appearance in the tournament, and for her just qualifying for the round of 16 is a huge achievement.
But for Morocco to lose in the round of 16 to South Africa is a huge failure.
We are talking about the team that just 14 months ago played in the semi-finals of the World Cup, with the same coach, Walid Ragraghi, and the same players.
Including Ashraf Hakimi, who yesterday missed a critical penalty in the 85th minute that could have equalized 1:1 and left the "Atlas Lions" in the picture.
Egypt also came to the championship with high hopes and with Mohamed Salah, the greatest Arab footballer of all time, top scorer of the Premier League.
So it is true that Salah was injured and only played in the first two games, but even before the injury he did not impress, like the whole team.
Congolese players in a frenzy, photo: AFP
The "Pharaohs" finished the championship without any victory.
They ended all three group games in draws, and lost in the round of 16 on penalties to Congo after another draw.
The world media is currently dealing with the failure of the Arab teams, but there is another side to this story: the success of the teams that did qualify for the quarterfinals.
And it is not accidental.
What they all have in common (with the exception of South Africa, which is a special case, due to the strong and rich local league) is the fact that they are based on players who play in Europe, more than ever, with many of them even playing in senior leagues.
True, there have always been players from the European leagues in the African national teams, but never in the quantities that exist today.
The Nigerian national team has 23 "Europeans" (including 7 from England and 3 from Italy), the Guinean team has 22 (8 from the French league and 3 from Germany), and so does Mali.
Ivory Coast, Congo and Cabo Verde have 20 players playing in Europe, and the Angolan squad has 18 (including two from the Premier League).
A large part of these players arrived in Europe at a very young age, sometimes 14 or 15. They have been training for years under the best conditions and bring the skills and experience they have gained to the national teams.
Senegalese players are desperate.
The champion also flew earlier than expected, photo: AP
Furthermore, a significant part of them were even born in Europe, which is also a phenomenon that is gaining momentum.
Among the 630 players from the 24 national teams that arrived in the Ivory Coast, 200 were not born in Africa at all.
104 were born in France, 24 in Spain, 15 in England and many others in Holland and Belgium, to immigrant families.
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Thus, for example, 16 players of the Congo national team were not born in the country.
They are Europeans by heart and birth, and most of them grew up and developed in the prestigious academies of France.
And when that's the case, we shouldn't be too surprised when, even on the African continent, the gaps between the "big" and the "small" are getting smaller and smaller.
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