APClaude Le Roy is well versed in African football

The African Nations Cup may have claimed its first victim: Claude Le Roy, the coach of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has hinted that his time in African football is over. Le Roy, known as the "white wizard," has a proud record, having coached teams to the ANC since 1986, and is considering pulling down his final curtain on the continent.

The 2013 event was his seventh and included his record 31st match, making him the most well-travelled and experienced manager of the ANC. Although he did not officially confirm that he will resign from the DRC job, Le Roy reported told one journalist "it's finished," when asked about his future in Africa.

Having coached Cameroon to ANC victory, and Senegal and Ghana to semi-final spots, Le Roy was bitterly disappointed that he was not able to achieve the same with the DRC. "It is sad to be out of the competition, especially as we did not lose. It's been a pleasure to work with the players but this is the end of a great adventure," he said.

"It's frustrating to lose but that's the reality. We never really had enough experience in our side. If we did, we would have closed out our previous match against Niger and won that to be in a much stronger position going into our last group game. Congo is a massive country with a deep passion for the game. It's a quality national side that will get better in time."

The DRC started the competition with great promise when they drew with Ghana but as they tailed off as the tournament went on, Ghana stepped it up a gear. Importantly for them, Asamoah Gyan found form and had a hand in all three goals. A Ghanian website called his final touch to score the first "classic," and he has once again returned to his position as the country's favourite son.

He will also find support in Port Elizabeth, the city that has now become Ghana's adopted home and where they will stay to play their quarter-final. It is there that Ghana played their famous World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay and where they were nicknamed BaGhana BaGhana. Luckily, they are not playing South Africa in the knockouts because it would have been interesting to see the divisions among fans then, but for now Ghana can expect the crowd to rally behind them against Cape Verde.

The Islanders may be shot green-eyed glances from Niger, who took 45 years to quality for a major tournament and two editions before they had a point to show for their efforts. Cape Verde are appearing for the first time and have reached the knockouts. Niger may wonder why they could not have had a similar run, but they should take heart from an example like Botswana.

Both Niger and Botswana played their first ANC's in 2012 and both failed to register a single win. In 12 months since then, Niger qualified for the continental championship for a second time, but Botswana faded into obscurity. Steadily, Niger are improving and there is no reason to think they will not make it to many more ANCs.

Mali are perhaps the most disappointing of the current quarter-finalists. Their coach, Patrice Carteron, said the team were "physically underprepared" when the tournament began because most of them had not been active for their clubs in the lead up. He also called their last group stage match "psychologically very difficult," because with Ghana 2-0 ahead in the other match at half-time, Mali knew they needed only a draw to progress.

In the end, the chief reason they made it through was Seydou Keita's late goal against Niger and his inspirational presence in securing the draw against the DRC. He continues to lead them in talismanic fashion.

With war raging in Mali, Keita and the team have decided to forego bonuses to ensure the government is not spending on sportsmen when the resources should be concentrated on ensuring peace and taking care of those who were affected by the conflict.

"Giving hope to the country has been priceless," Keita said. "There is a crisis and I did my best to give hope to those who are suffering. We have made an effort to help, but money doesn't matter. You can't imagine what it means to play for Mali at this time. I told my government they could reduce our bonuses. My priority is to play for my country."

As a former Barcelona player, Keita has won a host of cups at club level but has yet to add success with his national team to that. He has made no secret of his goal to change this but more importantly for him right now is the ambition to do something memorable for his suffering country.

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