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Blimey. The best of the four AFCON 2017 finals’ groups, Group B, will be unrepresented in the semi-finals. The worst, Group D, could yet provide the finalists. Mark Murphy tries to explain… Burkina Faso 2 Tunisia 0 Aristide Bance. Christian Benteke in a grated-cheese wig. But a Burkinabe cult hero before becoming a real one to consign Tunisia to a fifth (FIFTH!) consecutive defeat in an AFCON quarter-final. The “England of Africa,” you might say, but don’t. Bance’s impact may be the abiding memory of AFCON 2017. The sparse Libreville crowd were no collective shrinking violet. But the sight...

“Mixed” puts a fractionally positive spin on the last week-and-a-half’s AFCON football in Gabon (and a huge spin on the football BY Gabon). And must hope for rather than expect the on-pitch spectacle to improve. Largely because there has been a direct correlation between quality of pitch and match. On paper (possibly a better surface than Port-Gentil), Groups B and D were of comparable quality. On Port-Gentil’s crumbling sand (all-the-more-infuriating as it is the best of the four tournament stadia), Group D was horrible. On Franceville’s relative carpet, Group B was the best-in-show. Group B winners Senegal are thus...