The Africa Cup of Nations is usually full of surprises, and the 2017 edition of the tournament has been no different. We’ve already seen the hosts, Gabon, eliminated, tournament favorites Algeria sent packing and defending champions the Ivory Coast knocked out during group play.

The Ivory Coast, which featured the talents of Salomon Kalou, Wilfried Zaha, Wilfried Bony, Max Gradel, Serge Aurier and Eric Bailly, were ultimately punished for a slow start to their AFCON tournament on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe were eliminated from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations on Monday after losing to Tunisia in their final group match, 4-2. The Warriors, who were making only their third AFCON appearance and first since 2006, are largely reliant on striker Knowledge Musona, considered to be one of the finest footballers Zimbabwe has ever produced. 

One of the few players on the team to play abroad, Musona plays for K.V. Oostende in the Belgian first division, the striker gave Zimbabwean’s a lasting memory by scoring one of the best goals of the tournament.

What’s your most embarrassing story? Khadim N’Diaye, goalkeeper for the Senegal national team, has a pretty good one. It involves his right leg, his left leg and a degree of shamelessness that’s enough to make the rest of humanity feel humiliated.

N'Diaye performed an atrocious bit of playacting to shave a few seconds off the clock at the end of Senegal’s match versus Algeria at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Everyone, in lazy idleness, allows their mind to drift. You might start thinking about what a cat’s face might look like on the body of an elephant or if we had arms where our legs should be and legs for arms. The mind just wanders into strange territory. 

At every major international tournament, there’s always a player that does something so sensational that he finds himself the subject of a massive transfer. This goal from Piqueti of Guinea-Bissau may be the example of that at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

This is Guinea-Bissau’s first-ever appearance at the African finals, so next to nothing was expected of the side from West Africa. However, they opened the tournament with a shocking 1-1 draw against the hosts, Gabon. In their next match against heavily favored Cameroon, they took an unexpected 1-0 lead through Piqueti. 

Heather O'Reilly has made the move. The star midfielder, who scored 47 goals in 231 appearances for the USWNT, signed with Arsenal Ladies. Te move was officially announced by Arsenal on Wednesday.

"Having come over to Arsenal last year to train, I was very impressed with the club. The facilities are world class and they have a tradition of excellence at the club that I wanted to be a part of, I’m very happy to be here,” O’Reilly said.

We would like to share with you two moments from the Africa Cup of Nations that made us lean forward in our seat and open our eyes really wide. These happened on different days and in different matches, but they are both glorious.

The first is Burkina Faso's goalkeeper doing his best sweeper-keeper.

Burkina Faso's keeper will soon find himself in a Chinese club's back four on £300k-a-week after this tackle pic.twitter.com/TDgvJnFc3I

U.S. Soccer has announced that they will host the second annual SheBelieves Cup. From March 1-7, 2017, four out of the five top ranked teams in the world will travel to the northeast region of the U.S. to compete. Germany, France and England will join the USA in the most elite international tournament of the year. USA is currently ranked number one in the world, with Germany coming in second, France in third and England in fifth. 

Carli Lloyd had quite the year before adding another international award to her name. Early in 2016, Lloyd released her autobiography When Nobody Was Watching: My Hard-Fought Journey To The Top Of The Soccer World. It was a book that reflected on her family falling-out as well as the struggles and sacrifices she encountered as she rose to the top.