African Cup of Nations 2021 (played in 2022) | Final: Senegal v Egypt, 7 PM UK time

GD3
GD 3 today.

Algeria-Sierra Leone starting soon:




And of course we have the big one after:

Nigeria-Egypt should be an amazing game. Looking forward to it.
 
the_cliff said:
Starters are:
Bounedjah
Belaili Feghouli Mahrez

However the first 2 games we'll see some rotation as Mahrez just joined the squad (late) and Feghouli is injured. So I think he'll go 4-4-2 with Ounas in place of Mahrez and Slimani in place of Feghouli. He usually does that.

Brahimi will probably be a bit part player. Benrahma and Ounas should get more chances than Brahimi.



The first 'big' game is now, Morocco vs Ghana. Sulemena is a good talent to keep an eye on.
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Slimani starts instead of Bounedjah for some reason... and Brahimi starting, so 4 attacking mids in him, Mahrez, Feghouli and Belaili. Should be more more entertaining than Senegal at least!
 
Patchbeard said:
Slimani starts instead of Bounedjah for some reason... and Brahimi starting, so 4 attacking mids in him, Mahrez, Feghouli and Belaili. Should be more more entertaining than Senegal at least!
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Yeah looks like he's gone for the classic 4-1-5 :lol::lol:

There's going to be goals, put it that way.
 
Erm... Steven Caulker a) still exists and b) plays for Sierra Leone? :confused:
 
Patchbeard said:
Sierra Leone with more shots so far :nervous:
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Sierra Leone should be winning haha had by far the better chances. Going to need to get a midfielder in we look like United out there absolutely no link from defence to attack.
 
Algeria looking dangerous 2nd half since the disallowed goal for Sierra Leone. Best action I've seen so far this tournament (not saying much).
 
Credit to Sierra Leone to hold on there. Algeria will struggle this tournament if the pitches are like that.

The big one coming up.
 
Gio said:
Aye, it's on the cards at some point over the next 6-18 months. He would be a big loss, but the only viable model of business for clubs like ours is to pluck potential stars, develop and expose them to European football, and then sell them on for 10m+ profit after a few years.
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Yeah you've done well with players like Barisic, Morelos and Hagi and Celtic a few years back with Van Dijk, Wanyama etc so it's a very good model. I think as Aribo has shown there are can be some gems in the lower leagues that often end up in Championship and sometimes the Premier League but you don't seem to shop there too often. It's a shame because there are some that are well worth taking a chance on and you might say the jump is too big but it's worth remembering you got Morelos from Finland and he's done great.
 
Good to see a half decent crowd in for this one. I was expecting empty stadia outside the Cameroon games.
 
For the record, Garoua is close to a terrorism hot spot in Nigeria.

I mention this because I briefly explored going to watch this in person, but my cousin threatened to out my travel to the entire (drama queen full) family if I went...
 
adexkola said:
For the record, Garoua is close to a terrorism hot spot in Nigeria.

I mention this because I briefly explored going to watch this in person, but my cousin threatened to out my travel to the entire (drama queen full) family if I went...
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Whereabouts do you live mate? Are there many border restrictions Covid wise?
 
adexkola said:
For the record, Garoua is close to a terrorism hot spot in Nigeria.

I mention this because I briefly explored going to watch this in person, but my cousin threatened to out my travel to the entire (drama queen full) family if I went...
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Is BH the main terrorist organisation in that region?
 
Utd heap said:
Whereabouts do you live mate? Are there many border restrictions Covid wise?
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I'm in the US, but most of my family is Nigerian.

Border restrictions within Africa are nil (apart from some countries imposing quarantine for COVID reasons). However the travel within Cameroon is problematic. Bad roads, some routes blocked due to the Anglophone conflict... So it would have been a struggle to get to Garoua from the major cities of Douala and Yaounde... And that's without the threat of terrorists a few miles across the border...
 
Lovely finish on the half volley. Nigeria look well stacked with a few angles of attack.
 
Nigeria looking quite good under Eguavon. Quick attacking football. Good team selection.

I believe we shouldbe sticking to Nigerian coaches as they seem to understand the team better tbh.

Awoniyi showing very good movement up front. He will turn out to be a good player. Liverpool should have kept him as an option. Better than origi IMO
 
Poor Salah, will never achieve anything with Egypt, his teammates are so bad, he seems so out of place on that team.
That guy Trezeguet is so underwhelming, i think is the same guy who was missing simple passes in WC 2018 for Egypt...what an odd name "Trezeguet" to be such and underwhelming player.

I remember Egypt even losing against Saudi Arabia in past WC.
 
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adexkola said:
Yep for the most part. Keep in mind that that region has 4 countries touching (Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon), and BH operate with different levels of freedom in each country (Nigeria the most).
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Ah so it's quite an unstable region I can imagine. Would BH do anything during AFCON do you think?

Wolf1992 said:
Poor Salah, will never achieve anything with Egypt, his teammates are so bad, he seem so out of place on that team.

I remember Egypt even losing against Saudi Arabia in past WC.
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Amazing Egypt have produced such a player really when you think about it
 
TheReligion said:
Ah so it's quite an unstable region I can imagine. Would BH do anything during AFCON do you think?
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I doubt it. At least in Cameroon, the army and security forces would be heavily concentrated around this area. Enough to give CAF and national associations enough assurance.
 
Said Nigeria were favourites in a previous thread, nothing has changed.
Unfortunately my Black Stars are nowhere close :(
 
Wolf1992 said:
Poor Salah, will never achieve anything with Egypt, his teammates are so bad, he seems so out of place on that team.
That guy Trezeguet is so underwhelming, i think is the same guy who was missing simple passes in WC 2018 for Egypt...what an odd name "Trezeguet" to be such and underwhelming player.

I remember Egypt even losing against Saudi Arabia in past WC.
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Whilst acknowledging Salah is a world class player, I think its important to point out that in the first half Salah had an opportunity to put Marmoush through on goal. The weight of the pass from Salah was insufficient which allowed the goalkeeper and Troost Ekong to recover. It wasn't a difficult pass to make, certainly not for a player that's been exposed to the EPL football. He executes that pass and it's 1-0 Egypt.
 
At this rate we'll have Salah back by the end of the month. Seems like Mane is going to go far with Senegal.

Who're the favorites for this? I saw Algeria mentioned and then Senegal but some seem to think Nigeria are a good bet?
 
Any players to keep an eye on during the tournament? (Ones not playing in England right now, Germany / Spain are okay)
 
Klopper76 said:
At this rate we'll have Salah back by the end of the month. Seems like Mane is going to go far with Senegal.

Who're the favorites for this? I saw Algeria mentioned and then Senegal but some seem to think Nigeria are a good bet?
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Algeria are the holders and they still have a good team so yeah they're the favourites. Senegal is my pick, especially when they get Koulibaly and Mendy back from covid protocols. I'm not sold on Nigeria to be honest, but certainly good to watch my guys Omerou and Aina again.
 
Klopper76 said:
At this rate we'll have Salah back by the end of the month. Seems like Mane is going to go far with Senegal.

Who're the favorites for this? I saw Algeria mentioned and then Senegal but some seem to think Nigeria are a good bet?
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Senegal and Algeria.

Egypt will still probably come 2nd but could easily go out in the next round. They aren't fancied.
 
Queiroz is an awful manager, imagine playing Salah as a striker.
 
el3mel said:
We're so bad it's quite funny at this point.
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They remind me a lot of watching Wales. One legitimate star player, a couple of decent enough quality and a whole lot of cloggers.
 
Egypt looked all over the place whenever Nigeria launched a counter attack.

What are big rivalries on the African continent? Hope some of them get played this tournament.
 
I'm a bit disappointed with the UK coverage of this tournament. No studios, no pundits, no analysis, the feed cuts of literally seconds after the final whistle, sometimes just a single commentator.
 
Klopper76 said:
At this rate we'll have Salah back by the end of the month. Seems like Mane is going to go far with Senegal.

Who're the favorites for this? I saw Algeria mentioned and then Senegal but some seem to think Nigeria are a good bet?
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I think Ivory Coast belong in that category of favourites. They have Sebastian Haller whose in imperious form at the moment with 9 goals and 1 assist in his last 10 outings, so even if you factor he'll be operating in a different system with different teammates, he's at the least full of confidence which could potentially make the difference. Additionally, they have Zaha with this competition being his best chance of silverware, Maxwell Cornet has 6 goals in his last 10 games playing for Burnley which is a respectable return. They have Jeremy Boga. I'm a fervent admirer of his as Roberto De Zerbi's was Sassuolo one of my favourite teams to watch in world football. Whether he'll start I don't know, but he has the acumen to operate in tight spaces, and an elusive dribbling style. There's Kessie whose been a mainstay in Milan's resurgence with only four Milan players accumulating more minutes. Sangare is a name I've seen mentioned in the transfer thread, but I can't comment on him myself. So, I think the abundance of European top-flight experience, and one loss since 2020 makes them favourites along the likes of Algeria. Saying that though, there's only one time I'm excited about but they belong in the category of dark horses.
 
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