Group winners, check. Unbeaten in three games, check. No goals conceded, check. Progress to quarterfinals, check. Goals? Not so much.
The first of these factors helped Nigeria's Super Falcons stay on track for their record-extending 10th African title, but on the basis of the last two games, interim coach Justin Madugu may be walking on thin ice after a 0-0 draw with Algeria.
In that match, Nigeria had a whopping 24 shots at goal... and only two were on target. With teams like defending champions South Africa scoring four goals against Mali, or Ghana bagging four against Tanzania, the Super Falcons need to find the back of the net.
With qualification already secured after their opening two wins in group play, Madugu made eight changes to the squad that started against Botswana in last Thursday's 1-0 defeat of Botswana.
The intention behind the changes was clear: Rest key players ahead of this Friday's big ticket quarter-final encounter against Zambia's Copper Queens, who pipped them to the bronze medal post at the last tournament in what was a major upset.
With Algeria hunkering down and battening down the hatches - in similar fashion to Botswana on Match day 2 - the nine-time tournament champions huffed and puffed, but were ultimately unable to blow down Algeria's house.
Both sides progress to the quarterfinal, where the Super Falcons will face Zambia. But just like after their last game, the Nigerian players left the field with glum faces.
Algeria parked the bus, and it worked
As loaded as the Super Falcons are, Botswana may have exposed what could quite possibly be the team's soft underbelly: an inability to break down teams that sit back and hunker down.
The southern Africans executed the strategy to great effect in their matchday two meeting, until they were undone by a late sneak goal from Chinwendu Ihezuo. But Algeria - usually an attacking team - were taking notes, and seeing the success Botswana had, borrowed a page from that low block book and exploited it to perfection.
Algeria coach Farid Benstiti, admitted that his batten down the hatches tactics was specifically tailored for the Super Falcons: "It was specifically for this game.
"It was very, very important that we got a point or three points. That was the deal with my team.
"But yes, my philosophy is not really defensive, Today it was really different. I know Nigeria because they are very strong. If you make a mistake then they will go to score because they are very fast."
Zambia, the Falcons' quarterfinal opponents, play in almost the same way, with one key difference. Unlike Botswana and Algeria they have two of the most dangerous strikers in world football.
Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji possess both the speed and the finishing to exploit and punish deep Nigeria forays upfront.
Madugu however, says he already has an antidote for Bandananji: "We have our strategies.
"We have watched them, we know what they can do, and we will work on how to neutralize whatever it is that we know is their strength. We are not too bothered about individual players.
"We know how good they are, we know what they can do and we will have an antidote to that on game day."
On the evidence of what his team has done so far, that is looking like a bit of wishful thinking.
Oh, if only Gift Monday were there...
Prior to the tournament kickoff, former coach Randy Waldrum said the Super Falcons could win - despite, rather than because of Madugu -- and added a caveat, "if the right players are selected".
On the evidence of their first round display, it would appear that the American may have been on to something.
With teams locking up and throwing the keys away, Nigeria are finding goals hard to come by. Just one against Botswana, and none against Algeria has left Madugu admitting that it is a problem.
He said: "Goalscoring is a worry and a source of concern for us. I don't know why we are not scoring when we have been scoring goals before now."
And this is where that Waldrum caveat becomes telling, because Madugu left one of his most in-form strikers out of the team for no apparent reason.
Washington Spirit defender Gift Monday is a player with the skillset to unlock such defenses, with her pace, quick feet or aerial threat, where the Super Falcons have struggled to exploit the set pieces their barnstorming plays have generated. Her absence appears to have left a gaping hole upfront.
If the Super Falcons fail to win that 10th title they are aiming for with their 'Mission X' directive -- and heaven forbid they get eliminated by Zambia in the quarterfinal -- this Gift exclusion might turn out to be one that comes back to bite Madugu.
Madugu already on an apology tour
Following the Algeria game, the coach was quick to acknowledge that the neither performance nor result was good enough and immediately apologized to Nigerians.
"We did not play well and we are not happy about it," he said. We have a lot of work to do for the quarterfinals.
"We want to apologise to our dear countrymen and women for not winning the game because I know that the expectation is that we must always win.
"We did the best that we could to make sure that we won the game but it didn't turn out the way that they had expected.
"We apologise for that and we will make sure that we work harder to make them happy in the subsequent games that we have to play."
But it was the second time in two games he asked for forgiveness from Nigeria's notoriously critical fans. It was a good sign of taking accountability the first time. The second time? With no discernible plan to find solutions when presented with the same problem? Accountability has quickly worn thin.
"What I saw today and for large swathes of the game against Botswana, was not football," said a top NFF official in Morocco.
As it stands, unless the performances improve significantly, it would take Madugu winning that trophy to even have a sliver of a chance at staving off the sack.