Africa s international break -- what did we learn

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Africa's national teams returned to action for the first time after the Africa Cup of Nations during an international break with no shortage of headlines.

There were high-profile debuts aplenty, a continental great calling time on his international career, and a heavyweight showdown between Nigeria and Ghana.

The inaugural FIFA Series saw some big wins for African sides, while eight of the continental minnows kicked off the qualifying program for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in a series of double-headers.

Farewell, Gradel

Ivory Coast bade farewell to one of their stalwarts, with Max Gradel, 36, bringing the curtain down on his 13-year international career in the Elephants' 2-2 draw against Benin.

The versatile midfielder made his debut in 2011, and was part of the AFCON-winning sides of 2015 and 2024; alongside Sèrge Aurier, he was one of two to have been on both victorious teams.

Gradel also reached the Nations Cup final in 2012 and featured at the 2014 World Cup, and he made headlines in 2022 when he scored the Ivorians' winner in their AFCON opener against Sierra Leone five days after the funeral of his father.

"He's either always good or very good or good, he's not a player who will have fluctuations of form, nor someone who you play without knowing if he'll be good or not," then Ivory Coast coach Patrice Beaumelle told ESPN at the time. "You can start him, or bring him off the bench, and he's always focused."

Gradel bows out as the national side's third-highest appearance maker, behind only Didier Zokora and Kolo Touré.

"From the bottom of my heart, thank you to infinity," Gradel wrote on his Instagram handle. "I don't have the words. Once an elephant, forever an elephant. I love you."

Guela Doué marked his first international break with the winner as Ivory Coast defeated Uruguay 2-1 in their second fixture.

Two steps forward, one step back for Nigeria

After the highs of the AFCON, in which Nigeria reached the final before falling to hosts Ivory Coast, this was a mixed international break for the Super Eagles.

Finidi George took the reins after the exit of Jose Peseiro, and the West Africans looked more adventurous against fierce rivals Ghana than they had been during their conservative AFCON displays.

A 2-1 victory -- their first triumph against the Black Stars in almost two decades -- was an excellent bounce-back from the AFCON final defeat, particularly considering the absence of Victor Osimhen; Cyriel Dessers, Ademola Lookman and Stanley Nwabali all caught the eye.

Nigeria lost their way against Mali, however, and the 2-0 defeat ought to refocus minds ahead of the 2025 and 2026 qualifying campaigns.

Moses Simon suffered a fractured fibula to bring a premature end to his season.

No quick fix for ill-tempered Black Stars

Ghana needed a positive window after the bitter disappointment of the Nations Cup, but this week has been anything but for the West Africans.

There were hopes that returning head coach Otto Addo -- in as a replacement for Chris Hughton -- would herald a positive new era for Ghana, but the defeat by Nigeria and a listless 2-2 draw with Uganda failed to blow away the dark clouds.

"We didn't win a game, this is the general summary," Addo told the Ghana Football Association as the international break came to a close. "This is what I expected, to be honest, because the last games in general, before I came, were not good. It's a process."

Ghana also had three players sent off in the two matches, with Jerome Opoku seeing red against Nigeria and Mohammed Salisu and Alidu Seidu dismissed against the Cranes.

Young players complement Mane as Senegal return in style

After a difficult Nations Cup for the reigning champions, Senegal cruised through the international break with two victories against African opponents.

Gabon were dispatched 3-0 before Benin were eclipsed 1-0, with Sadio Mané scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot.

This international break won't be remembered in years to come, but it did mark another big step in the careers of Amara Diouf and Mikayil Faye.

Tipped to be one of Africa's next big things, Diouf, 15, made his second appearance for the Teranga Lions, off the bench against Benin, while Barcelona's Faye marked his debut with a screamer against Gabon.

Bright futures surely await for these two under Aliou Cisse.

Diaz can't lift Morocco

The most high-profile African debut of the weekend came in Agadir, where Brahim Díaz finally made his long-awaited bow for Morocco.

The Real Madrid man, once a Spain international, was unable to truly bring his flamboyance to bear for the Atlas Lions as they defeated Angola 1-0 thanks to an own goal, before being held by Mauritania in a lacklustre 0-0 draw.

This was a worrying showing for Walid Regragui's side, as the flair and creativity that deserted them during the Nations Cup -- with Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal sidelined -- was again nowhere to be found.

Diaz saw a lot of the ball, but the Atlas Lions struggled to maximise their possession, failed to penetrate their opponents, and laboured to get out of first gear.

This talented collective will regret not building on their success at the 2022 World Cup if this familiar failing continues.

Algeria in transition

Without experienced players Riyad Mahrez, Sofiane Feghouli, Islam Slimani, Youcef Belaïli, Ismaël Bennacer and Raïs M'Bolhi, this was always going to be an unpredictable international break for an Algeria side in transition.

They defeated Bolívia 3-2 in their first game before a 3-3 draw with South Africa highlighted the work that lies ahead for incoming head coach Vladimir Petkovic.

Understandably, the new coach wanted to get a glimpse of as many new faces as possible -- the coach shuffled his pack considerably across the two matches -- but the Fennecs are looking worryingly vulnerable as some critical qualifiers approach.

"During the break, we made mistakes that we'll not be able to make in June," Petkovic said. "We're going to do some analysis to call up the 23 players who are in the best place to win."

FIFA Series

The inaugural FIFA Series took place with fascinating match-ups and some eye-catching results.

This new initiative by Gianni Infantino and co. seeks to accelerate the progress of national teams around the world by pitting them against sides from outside their own continent they wouldn't typically encounter.

As well as Algeria vs. Bolivia, we saw Andorra vs. South Africa and Tanzania vs. Mongolia, while Equatorial Guinea played Cambodia and Cape Verde faced Guyana.

Egypt lost 4-2 to Croatia in the highest-profile match of the 2024 edition, but Africa's teams were among the biggest winners.

Guinea defeated Vanuatu and Bermuda by an aggregate score of 11-1, while the Central African Republic downed Bhutan and Papua New Guinea 6-0 and 4-0 respectively.

It remains to be seen whether either of those sides will identify any benefits from such one-sided encounters.

AFCON Qualifying begins

The Road to Morocco began with four double-headers featuring the continent's smallest footballing nations, the sides at the foot of the FIFA World Rankings competing for places in the qualifying group stage.

There will be no second AFCON appearance for Mauritius, after they were defeated by Chad, but Liberia kept alive their hopes of a return to the continental high table by defeating Djibouti 2-0 on aggregate.

South Sudan snuck past Sao Tome e Principe on away goals, while Eswatini defeated Somalia 5-2 on aggregate having won the first leg 3-0 in Morocco.

Veteran Swazi forward Sabelo Ndzinisa and New Zealand-born Somali wideman Mohamed Awad are the early pace-setters in the goalscoring charts with two apiece.

The four teams progressing will join the continent's top 44 sides for the group stage, with CAF yet to clarify when the draw will take place.