Africa Football Discussion Thread || Current discussion: African teams at Qatar.

[poldanmig]

The competition kick starts in few days, six day if I'm correct.
Hope y'all had your bets down for Egypt ?
They have got Salah, with his pace and goal scoring abilities, they can win this.
I just can't stop anticipating for the African Cup of Nations.

The African Cup of Nations will start on January 9 to February 6, 2022, it seems that there will be many teams in the European leagues who will experience a cripple in their squad because they have to release players to participate in the african cup, so far I think if the English league clubs will definitely get more impact big because many African players are currently playing in the English league, I think Cameroon seems to be a strong candidate to win the Africa Cup of Nations, because apart from being the host, their players this year are also very good and evenly distributed in every line and  Cameroon join in Group A of course it will make it easier for them due to getting a relatively weaker opponent.

[Rruchi man]

The competition kick starts in few days, six day if I'm correct.
Hope y'all had your bets down for Egypt ?
They have got Salah, with his pace and goal scoring abilities, they can win this.

Mo' salah is just one out of eleven players in the Egyptian team, whose to say his effect/presence will be big on the team, there are many other Africans as well with very good goal scoring ability and pace, but those qualities alone are not enough to win the AFCON, you need a good balanced playing "team" as well as and a tactical coach to win. The anticipation for the cup to kick off is high, i hope it offers some quality standard football matches that can proof to everyone that the AFCON is still something to watch.

[coco23]

Yes it is. The result of the group matches is clear even before the start of the championship. But this problem is common for most tournaments - even in the Champions League where it is very rare to get competitive groups and very rarely when the underdogs make it to the playoffs.

Yea this is true. Although most of the time there are a few surprise teams in tournaments kicking out the big players.
Often there is also at least 1 or 2 very strong group with 3 big teams where one has to be eliminated, but this doesn't seem to be the case for the Africa Cup this year. Let's see how it goes 

[Gosgosking]

The competition kick starts in few days, six day if I'm correct.
Hope y'all had your bets down for Egypt ?
They have got Salah, with his pace and goal scoring abilities, they can win this.

Mo' salah is just one out of eleven players in the Egyptian team, whose to say his effect/presence will be big on the team, there are many other Africans as well with very good goal scoring ability and pace, but those qualities alone are not enough to win the AFCON, you need a good balanced playing "team" as well as and a tactical coach to win. The anticipation for the cup to kick off is high, i hope it offers some quality standard football matches that can proof to everyone that the AFCON is still something to watch.

Even at that salah is a very good player, his good performance can still affect the team. I have come  across many teams who just have one good player and it covers up for the team. You never  can tell the present of salah can play a role for Egypt by gingering other player. It has always been like that bro.

[uneng]

For me the results of this competition are going to be a surprise, because there are some good candidates here.

In group A, Cameroon looks a predictable bet.

Group B, Senegal is pretty strong with some players from european clubs like Chelsea, PSG and Liverpool.

Group C brings Ghana which has a strong history and tradition of participation in international competitions, reaching to the quarter finals on the world cup of 2010 against Uruguay.

Group D will be an interesting one though, because I see Egypt and Nigeria are going to star an intense duel for the top position of the group. Egypt has the one who is considered the best player of the entire competition, but Nigeria might have a more balanced team with history and tradition similar to Ghana in international soccer.

Group E must be between Algeria and Ivory Coast, as both teams star many names from european clubs on their lines.

And Group F looks the coldest one, without any major expectations... Maybe Tunisia can show some nice performance against its adversaries on this group with Hannibal Mejbri from Manchester United.

[KTChampions]

Yes it is. The result of the group matches is clear even before the start of the championship. But this problem is common for most tournaments - even in the Champions League where it is very rare to get competitive groups and very rarely when the underdogs make it to the playoffs.

Yea this is true. Although most of the time there are a few surprise teams in tournaments kicking out the big players.
Often there is also at least 1 or 2 very strong group with 3 big teams where one has to be eliminated, but this doesn't seem to be the case for the Africa Cup this year. Let's see how it goes 

This situation is not encouraging. Perhaps Salah is not very happy with the fact that because of these formal games he will miss several rounds in the EPL and perhaps Liverpool will lose all chances of fighting for the championship during the African Cup. Egypt is considered the favorite in the tournament, and Salah is the favorite in the scorers' race, but it seems to me that the prestige of this competition is not very great.

[coco23]

This situation is not encouraging. Perhaps Salah is not very happy with the fact that because of these formal games he will miss several rounds in the EPL and perhaps Liverpool will lose all chances of fighting for the championship during the African Cup. Egypt is considered the favorite in the tournament, and Salah is the favorite in the scorers' race, but it seems to me that the prestige of this competition is not very great.

Yea, this is pretty unfortunate. Many African players play in top teams, but somehow their national teams are never really successful in World Cups. This fact is shadowing the whole Africa Cup of course.
Personally I am looking forward to an exciting and open-ended tournament

[swogerino]

Yes it is. The result of the group matches is clear even before the start of the championship. But this problem is common for most tournaments - even in the Champions League where it is very rare to get competitive groups and very rarely when the underdogs make it to the playoffs.

Yea this is true. Although most of the time there are a few surprise teams in tournaments kicking out the big players.
Often there is also at least 1 or 2 very strong group with 3 big teams where one has to be eliminated, but this doesn't seem to be the case for the Africa Cup this year. Let's see how it goes 

This situation is not encouraging. Perhaps Salah is not very happy with the fact that because of these formal games he will miss several rounds in the EPL and perhaps Liverpool will lose all chances of fighting for the championship during the African Cup. Egypt is considered the favorite in the tournament, and Salah is the favorite in the scorers' race, but it seems to me that the prestige of this competition is not very great.

Maybe.I think the African Cup lately in these last couple of tournaments have been very competitive.I would not just rate Egypt to be the main favorite here.Teams like Ivory Coast,Senegal,Cameroon,Algeria and Tunisia have all very good players that can make a difference in this tournament.Of course they maybe not in the level of Salah but they are great overall players and they usually excel when playing with the national teams.This competition is well respected in the African continent and it is from such competitions that players like Drogba and a couple of others became well known.

[Gasty4]

This is a quote from Paul Ince "The best players in European football are currently Africans".
That's to say if you're not watching the African Cup of Nations in few days, you're doing your eyes bad
Africans jetting back to join their various countries already.

[coco23]

This is a quote from Paul Ince "The best players in European football are currently Africans".
That's to say if you're not watching the African Cup of Nations in few days, you're doing your eyes bad
Africans jetting back to join their various countries already.

I have heard and seen similar quotes throughout the last years. Already in the 2010 South Africa World Cup everybody said that it's time for the great breakthrough for African teams, but here we are 12 years later still waiting. I guess one problem is, that while they might have the best individual players, their teams are less well organized and the quality is not consistent in the teams (in comparison with South American and European national teams).

[Juggy777]

This is a quote from Paul Ince "The best players in European football are currently Africans".
That's to say if you're not watching the African Cup of Nations in few days, you're doing your eyes bad
Africans jetting back to join their various countries already.

I have heard and seen similar quotes throughout the last years. Already in the 2010 South Africa World Cup everybody said that it's time for the great breakthrough for African teams, but here we are 12 years later still waiting. I guess one problem is, that while they might have the best individual players, their teams are less well organized and the quality is not consistent in the teams (in comparison with South American and European national teams).

@Gasty4 it’s very true many premier league teams are missing their player’s, and I feel this year the African Cup will get better viewing cause there’re lots of quality player’s participating in the tournament, and as a football fan one can’t possibly miss seeing them play.

@coco23 I believe that happened due to lack of preparation time for the teams, because player’s are more focused on their leagues and not focused on winning this tournament, but this year I feel we’ll witness some quality games hence I’m really excited to watch the games in this tournament.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

@Gasty4 it’s very true many premier league teams are missing their player’s, and I feel this year the African Cup will get better viewing cause there’re lots of quality player’s participating in the tournament, and as a football fan one can’t possibly miss seeing them play.

Some teams refused to release their players. Watford stopped Dennis from honoring his national teams call I don't know of other African countries but this are issues relating to my national team. Even Napoli has refused to release Victor Osimhen and pretty sure they're making up stories to cover that up. First it was Jürgen Klopp that disrespected this tournament and now teams are doing the same.

If this was the Euros or some other major European tournament, you can't witness this kind of disrespect. Just as @Gasty4 said, we're contributing massively to world football in entertaining viewers with talent from African. It's just sad seeing our biggest tournament get treated like it's nothing. Imagine Nigeria will be without two of the hostess inform forward players at the moment, just sad.

[poldanmig]

This situation is not encouraging. Perhaps Salah is not very happy with the fact that because of these formal games he will miss several rounds in the EPL and perhaps Liverpool will lose all chances of fighting for the championship during the African Cup. Egypt is considered the favorite in the tournament, and Salah is the favorite in the scorers' race, but it seems to me that the prestige of this competition is not very great.

Yea, this is pretty unfortunate. Many African players play in top teams, but somehow their national teams are never really successful in World Cups. This fact is shadowing the whole Africa Cup of course.
Personally I am looking forward to an exciting and open-ended tournament

It is true that many African players are playing in European clubs today and some of them are even important players for the club, but what you need to remember is that the level of playing in a club is very different from playing in a country, playing in a club will of course get good training. tight and a lot of time for players to build cohesiveness with each other, while when competing for the country, the players only have little time to practice with other players and of course it will be very difficult to build cohesiveness among players in my opinion, besides if there is someone a great player in a club, but of course he can't help his country individually without other players who are also playing well, because football is a team game that shouldn't rely on only 1 or 2 players.

[Gasty4]

@Gasty4 it’s very true many premier league teams are missing their player’s, and I feel this year the African Cup will get better viewing cause there’re lots of quality player’s participating in the tournament, and as a football fan one can’t possibly miss seeing them play.

Some teams refused to release their players. Watford stopped Dennis from honoring his national teams call I don't know of other African countries but this are issues relating to my national team. Even Napoli has refused to release Victor Osimhen and pretty sure they're making up stories to cover that up. First it was Jürgen Klopp that disrespected this tournament and now teams are doing the same.

If this was the Euros or some other major European tournament, you can't witness this kind of disrespect. Just as @Gasty4 said, we're contributing massively to world football in entertaining viewers with talent from African. It's just sad seeing our biggest tournament get treated like it's nothing. Imagine Nigeria will be without two of the hostess inform forward players at the moment, just sad.

I won't say much about Dennis being blocked by Watford, they're in a bit poor situation and he's being like a lionel messi when they need him.
If you can recall his performance against Manchester United and scoring a goal in the process.
What pains me and gets me vexed the most is Victor Oshime, for what sake, I still think he's got a role to play if he does intends to play for the African Cup of Nations.

[KTChampions]

This situation is not encouraging. Perhaps Salah is not very happy with the fact that because of these formal games he will miss several rounds in the EPL and perhaps Liverpool will lose all chances of fighting for the championship during the African Cup. Egypt is considered the favorite in the tournament, and Salah is the favorite in the scorers' race, but it seems to me that the prestige of this competition is not very great.

Yea, this is pretty unfortunate. Many African players play in top teams, but somehow their national teams are never really successful in World Cups. This fact is shadowing the whole Africa Cup of course.
Personally I am looking forward to an exciting and open-ended tournament

Well, there are always few teams that achieve success at the World Championship. My point of view is different - who is interested in this African Cup in general? In my opinion, there are only two serious tournaments - the World Cup and the European Championship. The League of Nations, America's Cup, African Cup are third-rate tournaments that few people are interested in, but clubs suffer from the fact that they are forced to send their players there.

[uchegod-21]

I won't say much about Dennis being blocked by Watford, they're in a bit poor situation and he's being like a lionel messi when they need him.
If you can recall his performance against Manchester United and scoring a goal in the process.
What pains me and gets me vexed the most is Victor Oshime, for what sake, I still think he's got a role to play if he does intends to play for the African Cup of Nations.

Even if Dennis is Lionel Messi of Watford. Does Barcelona or Psg stop Messi from going to Copa America? There is no respect for Africa. The players too don't have influence or the desire to play for their country or continent football.

[BIT-BENDER]

just checked the quotes and there is no clear favorite

Senegal 6.5
Algeria 7.0
Egypt 7.0
Ivory Coast 8.5
Kamerun 9.0
Nigeria 9.0
Morocco 10.0

It looks like it's gonna be an open tournament, at least from the final rounds on. It seems the groups are clearly divided into good and not-so-good teams...

Although I am an African the football game in my continent is very poor. Checking how far the African continent has been in football, I feel by now there should be necessary improvement in many areas but that's not the case, I am not even excited anymore about the African nations cup I would only watch it out of patriotism apart from  that the level of game action doesn't excite me anymore.

[gabbie2010]

just checked the quotes and there is no clear favorite

Senegal 6.5
Algeria 7.0
Egypt 7.0
Ivory Coast 8.5
Kamerun 9.0
Nigeria 9.0
Morocco 10.0

It looks like it's gonna be an open tournament, at least from the final rounds on. It seems the groups are clearly divided into good and not-so-good teams...

Although I am an African the football game in my continent is very poor. Checking how far the African continent has been in football, I feel by now there should be necessary improvement in many areas but that's not the case, I am not even excited anymore about the African nations cup I would only watch it out of patriotism apart from  that the level of game action doesn't excite me anymore.

I agreed with you with regards the poor state of African football that is why it will take a very long time before any African country can win the World Cup, corruption in Football Association is at an alarming rate, funds disposed by FIFA to all these countries football managing bodies that ought to be used in scouting talents from the grassroots and development of football infrastructures ended up being embezzled consequently you won't hardly see a new homegrown star throughout the Nation Cup consequently it will be very difficult for any African country to win the World Cup.

[logfiles]

I have a burning question about the timing of the AFCON tournament.

Why is it always played when Major league seasons are underway and not when seasons have ended, just like the Euros, Copa América and World cup tournaments?

Doesn't this create unfair advantage to the tournament, making it even much less popular as all focus is on the leagues?

[Harkorede]

I have a burning question about the timing of the AFCON tournament.

Why is it always played when Major league seasons are underway and not when seasons have ended, just like the Euros, Copa América and World cup tournaments?

I think it due to the weather conditions in Cameroon, winter is the most suitable season for the tournament in the country and due to the World Cup coming up later this year.

However, the climate in Cameroon and being forced to shift the biennial tournament into a World Cup year has left CAF with limited options over its timing.

,

It's been said that the next one(Ivory Coast) will be held in the summer.


Team Nigeria would be without their most lethal strikers for tournament, as both Victor Osimhen(Injury and Covid protocols) and Dennis Emmanuel is been said to have been threatened by Watford to not join with the Super Eagles for the tournament.