AFCON 2025: Biggest and best stories from Matchday 3

There's a lot to like about this lineup of matches. The Round of 16 will feature two highly competitive fixtures in Algeria vs. DR Congo and South Africa vs. Cameroon. Outsiders Tanzania and Mozambique will face off against headliners Morocco and Nigeria, earning them more eyeballs and gate receipts than any other game they've played thus far.

The real interest, though, comes from the games far in the future. North favorites Morocco and Algeria can't face off until the semifinals, and neither of the two can take on their rival Egypt until the final itself. We could be in for some blockbuster North African showdowns at the business end of AFCON 2025.

Uganda's goalkeeper shuffle

National teams tend to bring three—yes, three—goalkeepers to every major tournament. Why, you might ask, considering most teams start the same goalkeeper no matter what? Let Uganda explain it for you.

In its do-or-die Matchday 3 clash with Nigeria, Uganda started the match with Denis Onyango, its long-serving No. 1, in the net. Onyango twisted his ankle halfway through the match and was replaced by Jamal Salim. Salim, riddled with nerves, committed a red-card offense by handling the ball outside of the box and found himself ejected just 10 minutes later, forcing Uganda to leverage its rarely-seen third choice goalkeeper Alionzi Nafian Legason.

That's right: over 10 minutes of wild play, Uganda churned through three goalkeepers. That's why you bring that many. If Uganda had only opted for two on its roster, it would've been forced to plug an outfield player between the sticks.

Red cards galore

Jamal Salim wasn't the only AFCON player to receive a red card on Matchday 3: Mali's Amadou Haidara and Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly were dismissed, too, making this the reddest matchday of the tournament by far.

Salim's Uganda has already been eliminated from AFCON, so his red card is immaterial to the rest of the tournament. Haidara's Mali and Koulibaly's Senegal are advancing, though, and that means both players will be suspended for their respective Round of 16 clashes. 

Gabon's catastrophe

Gabon isn't one of Africa's headlining national teams, but it has steadily grown over the last decade into a legitimate tournament threat. With Marseille striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and LAFC winger Denis Bouanga leading its forward line, expectations were high for the team at this tournament...but a difficult group draw and a series of wasteful performances saw it eliminated in the opening round with zero points to its name.

Furious with the team's performance, the government of Gabon took drastic action. 

"Given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the Africa Cup of Nations, the government has decided to dissolve the coaching staff, suspend the national team until further notice and exclude players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,” Gabon's sports minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula said, via The Guardian.

New coaches, a full team suspension and the rejection of two key players means Gabon is in for a large-scale rebuild in 2026. It's a strong response but not an unprecedented one, and it marks the latest in a series of career dismissals for Aubameyang, who also found himself exiled by coach Mikel Arteta for behavioral issues during his stint at Arsenal in the Premier League.

AFCON will return with its Round of 16 on Saturday, Jan. 3.