African Cup of Nations 2021

Klopper76

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Bit of a blow for us with Salah, Mane & Keita probably going away next year to play.

 

Kasper

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Wow, I thought it was scheduled for June? And like @Annihilate Now! said, didn't they make a decision a while ago to keep having it in the European summer break?

Brutal for Liverpool if it stays that way, especially since Salah and Mane never seem to get injured, breaking up that front three for about a month in a vital phase of the season will definitely hurt them.
 

ForeverRoma93

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This may force Liverpool to be really active in the Summer market for attacking options
 

Silas

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Think they moved it back because the weather was an issue last year. Pitches weren't great in the rain.
 

Rasendori

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An exorbitant amount of rain will occur in Yaounde during the June/July period.
The Fifa Club World Cup runs from 17 June - 4 July. Therefore, it would have been a conflict of interest.
 

Kasper

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An exorbitant amount of rain will occur in Yaounde during the June/July period.
The Fifa Club World Cup runs from 17 June - 4 July. Therefore, it would have been a conflict of interest.
Cheers, yeah I thought it would be weather related but the new FIFA club world cup is something I've heard for the first time. Just googled and it's a pilot project for June/July 2021 with 20-24 teams taking part? Oh boy, that'll go down well with some clubs, another tournament added in summer for players to be run into the ground.
 

Gasolin

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Good, it's always happening with African players and I do hope it does hurt a bit Liverpool. But it's football and it's always been that ways so no complain.
 

Gasolin

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Yeah.
Please sign for us as we can guarantee you a couple of games in January.
Not so simple !
But it's good to see them try no? In any cases, it's not bad for us since we do not have that many African players called for the CAN. But we need players so that's a different story...
 

B20

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I imagine it hurts European club's willingness to build around African players when they are without them for a full month of a season every two years.

We'll need to plan for phasing out at least one of mane/salah by Jan next year.

International football in general need to just pack it in a lot more than it does right now.
 

jeff gurr

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I think teams will think twice before buying African players or at least limit the amount of African players on the team.
Jan/Feb is probably the toughest part of the schedule & probably the part of the year when titles & relegation battles are in full flow.
No club can afford to loose 4-6 first team players for six weeks not to mention the worry of a player returning injured.
 

Maluco

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This isn’t as big an issue as some of you are making it. It is every two years and they will only miss 3-4 PL games unless they reach the very final stages. Mane and Salah rarely miss any games through injuries, so I really don’t think anyone would even consider this when buying players.

Take a look at Harry Kane and the games he has missed though injury in his active seasons. He is a player that is prone to injury from putting too much stress on his body, and that would be far more prominent in my thoughts than if a player is from Africa...

16/17 - Two seperate ankle injuries missing 11 and 3 games respectively.

17/18 - Ankle injury - 2 games

18/19 - Ankle injury and ligament injury missing 8 and 9 games respectively

19/20 - Flu and Thigh injury missing 1 game and now 3 and counting with his thigh problem.

Harry Kane has missed 37 games in the last 4 seasons with injury and that will be far more by the end of this season. It will be between 20-25% of his team’s games.

I really don’t think African nations would come in to a managers planning if they have the right player for that particular position. 3 - 5 games every other season isn’t enormous if a player is reliable otherwise.
 

Santoryo

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Bit of a blow for us with Salah, Mane & Keita probably going away next year to play.

So the Afcon returned to January. Any ideas why they decided to reverse the decision of playing them in June/July?
 

Warlord

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So the Afcon returned to January. Any ideas why they decided to reverse the decision of playing them in June/July?
Because it would clash with FIFA's new Club world Cup. Kinda sucks but there you go!
 

Finn MacCool

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I would like to think that when the fixtures are scheduled for next season the PL will try, where possible, to avoid big 6 clashes in this period. If it had been this year Salah, Mane and Keita would have missed games against Spurs and Utd. Yasser Larouci might also have missed the FA cup tie against Everton :cool:
 

adexkola

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Planning to attend this tournament in person for a few games

Hopefully Egypt and Cameroon and Senegal make it to the semifinals at least, keep Mane and Salah and Matip (who else am I missing) away from the PL for a while
 

Rasendori

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Planning to attend this tournament in person for a few games

Hopefully Egypt and Cameroon and Senegal make it to the semifinals at least, keep Mane and Salah and Matip (who else am I missing) away from the PL for a while
What do you make of Nigeria's chances?
 

adexkola

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What do you make of Nigeria's chances?
I think Nigeria sits one tier below Algeria (excellent coaching) and Senegal (best collection of players right now). Still I'd expect us to at least qualify from the group stage and make the semi-final. Anything after that is a bonus (we aren't called Kings of Bronze for nothing). This assumes Rohr signs a new deal... If he leaves then all bets are off
 

adexkola

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Rainy season in Cameroon.
Not complaining about January, but I would think they'd move it to August (there's a lull in the rain this month). fecks with clubs preparing for the season but it's probably less disruptive than having the tournament during the busy January period.
 

adexkola

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To play the tournament every 2 years is a joke.
It actually isn't, it's the best exposition of football on the continent. Just my opinion which may be invalidated by data, but Africa's equivalent of the Champions League isn't followed that much except in North Africa (no surprise, they dominate it). AFCON is a different level in terms of excitement and following. Probably dwarfed only by the WC as well as PL, CL and CL in terms of watch volume, not excitement though.
 

FootballHQ

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Maybe premier league will schedule winter break for that period.
 

TheReligion

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Bit of a blow for us with Salah, Mane & Keita probably going away next year to play.

Keita going would be a blessing. Arguably one of the biggest and most expensive flops in recent time. You'll really miss Salah and more so Mane.
 

Klopper76

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Keita going would be a blessing. Arguably one of the biggest and most expensive flops in recent time. You'll really miss Salah and more so Mane.
I find it hard to be overly critical of Keita this season. When he’s played he’s played well, but he’s so injury prone. His injuries usually come in training or like his most recent one did, doing a pre-game warm up as well.

Klopp will have to base his summer on Salah & Mane not being around for about 6 weeks. Matip as well but he normally has about 8 weeks off per season due to injury anyway.
 

TheReligion

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I find it hard to be overly critical of Keita this season. When he’s played he’s played well, but he’s so injury prone. His injuries usually come in training or like his most recent one did, doing a pre-game warm up as well.

Klopp will have to base his summer on Salah & Mane not being around for about 6 weeks. Matip as well but he normally has about 8 weeks off per season due to injury anyway.
I don't think Keita has justified his price tag. You've escaped criticism for it as you're doing so well without him but at just shy of £60m he's been dreadful and offered you nothing of note you have to say.

I'm wondering if he'll be moved on in summer you know.
 

Klopper76

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I don't think Keita has justified his price tag. You've escaped criticism for it as you're doing so well without him but at just shy of £60m he's been dreadful and offered you nothing of note you have to say.

I'm wondering if he'll be moved on in summer you know.
I don’t think he will. He was a big investment and Klopp won’t want to give up on him.

Scored a few goals and added a couple of assists this season when he has played. Offering nothing of note would suggest he hadn’t contributed anything.

He needs to stay fit and get a run in the team.
 

ForeverRoma93

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Yeah.
Please sign for us as we can guarantee you a couple of games in January.
Not so simple !
:lol:

I meant they'll invest more to squad in terms of their attacking positions, kind of like how they have signed Minamino. He provides competition and is good cover like Origi and Shaq.

I wouldn't be surprised if they bolster their attack considering Klopp likes versatile players. There's some suggestion that Minamino could play in the midfield if needed and I believe Shaqiri has played that role as well for a few games last season.
 

TheReligion

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I don’t think he will. He was a big investment and Klopp won’t want to give up on him.

Scored a few goals and added a couple of assists this season when he has played. Offering nothing of note would suggest he hadn’t contributed anything.

He needs to stay fit and get a run in the team.
I've got him with 2 goals and 1 assist this season. He's offered very little when you consider the huge fee paid and in his second season with the club. I think to date we have to say he's been a flop, injuries included. Had he always been prone to them?
 

Klopper76

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I've got him with 2 goals and 1 assist this season. He's offered very little when you consider the huge fee paid and in his second season with the club. I think to date we have to say he's been a flop, injuries included. Had he always been prone to them?
I’m counting the goal in the CWC semi final, then the two goals against Bournemouth & Salzburg plus an assist in the Bournemouth game as well. He hasn’t played much though. Only 10% of the minutes available in the Premier League & 46% of the minutes available in the Champions League.

I don’t think he spent a lot of time injured at Leipzig but I might be wrong. He might be having difficulty adapting to Klopp’s training methods.
 

sideshow_bob

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Nothing for United to be worried about here. Rarely interested in African players.
 

lsd

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I would like to think that when the fixtures are scheduled for next season the PL will try, where possible, to avoid big 6 clashes in this period. If it had been this year Salah, Mane and Keita would have missed games against Spurs and Utd. Yasser Larouci might also have missed the FA cup tie against Everton :cool:

Why should they ? Is VAR not enough for you ?

Anyway you cannot compare players potentially getting injured to players you know will miss 6/8 weeks of a crucial point of the season going away to Africa to play for their country

A club pays players to play for them not take 2 monthes off to play for someone else . It's an absolute joke .

I personally wouldn't want Utd to sign anyone that would do that in the middle of the season and would be very unhappy if a player did leave to play in such a tournament.
 

Finn MacCool

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Why should they ? Is VAR not enough for you ?

Anyway you cannot compare players potentially getting injured to players you know will miss 6/8 weeks of a crucial point of the season going away to Africa to play for their country

A club pays players to play for them not take 2 monthes off to play for someone else . It's an absolute joke .

I personally wouldn't want Utd to sign anyone that would do that in the middle of the season and would be very unhappy if a player did leave to play in such a tournament.
I agree with a lot of what you say. I’m not bothered by intl football anymore. It has never held the same appeal for me. Summer tournaments help bridge the gap till the new season but bring the risk of injury and fatigue.

Disagree about not signing African players because of the Afcon. It’s not ideal but losing Salah and Mane for 6 games every two seasons is better than not having them at all.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Good, it's always happening with African players and I do hope it does hurt a bit Liverpool. But it's football and it's always been that ways so no complain.
Would be good though...

"Bloody Africans, coming over here and taking our Africans"
 

B20

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Klopp has his say

“You really want to open this book now? So, I couldn't respect the Africa Cup of Nations more than I do because I like the competition. I watched it a lot in the past in my life, very interesting tournament, most difficult circumstances a lot of times and the players what they make of it, sensational players.​
“It's not the last time you see the players as they turn up in Europe, they turn up everywhere. But it is an obvious problem that you play a tournament in the middle of the season, although it makes more sense for Africa to play it in our winter when the weather is better for them – I get that.​
“The only problem is it's a general problem. A couple of things which are not OK: one thing is Fifa plans a tournament in the summer of 2021 [Club World Cup], a week later the actual African Cup of Nations would have started I think, or maybe two weeks later, another tournament for a lot of world-class players.​
“I mentioned that in the past. I am not sure if that was part of the decision when they thought, 'OK, it makes no sense to play it after that tournament, it makes sense to play it in the winter', or was the weather the real [reason]. It means another tournament, it's too many tournaments still. That's one thing.​
“The other thing is it doesn't help African players. We will not sell Sadio, Mo or Naby now because they have a tournament in January and February – of course not – but if you have to make a decision about bringing in a player it is a massive one because before the season you know for four weeks you don't have them.​
“That's a normal process and as a club you have to think about these things. It doesn't help the players, for sure. But these decisions are made without asking the players, without asking the managers, without asking anyone. It is just a decision.​
“It is Fifa who should sort all of that as head of all the different associations. It doesn't look like being involved, they are still happy having their 21-team World Cup offering a lot of money, I don't know the exact numbers but it must be a lot of money for all the clubs involved.​
“It means the clubs are like, 'Maybe we can play it', they ask the managers and they would say 'no' but they could paid a lot of money. It's a strange situation as we ask for less games and we'd get paid less money but I'm ready to do so, I can say it here.​
...​
“The African Cup of Nations going back to January is, for us, a catastrophe. On top of that we have absolutely no power so if we did say, 'We don't let him go' the player is suspended. How is that possible that the company who pays the player cannot decide that the player has to stay or not.​
“If you would say, 'Let's play the African Cup of Nations but the players play in other countries, not in Africa', it still would be a great tournament but not the superstars but the superstars of tomorrow. I don't say that would be a solution for it but it is strange we have absolutely no say.​
“If a player is injured and cannot play for us we have to send him to Africa and they have a look and in one or two weeks they are back. We just sit there and plan the route, the flight for the boys, and say, 'There you go, have the boys'. Nowadays it should not be like this.​
“But I speak here about it and no-one will listen. It is like the biggest waste of time ever. The moaner from Liverpool or whatever is again on track. As long as nothing changes I will say it all the time. It is because it is about the players, not one second about me.​
“There are so many things to sort but all these guys never find time to sit around one table and make a general schedule. All these different games to play and no break for the players.​
"Let's respect that, but if you have that break don't make a replay in this break. This would help massively.”​
Guess we won't be signing any more Africans for the foreseeable future.
 

Rasendori

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I think Nigeria sits one tier below Algeria (excellent coaching) and Senegal (best collection of players right now). Still I'd expect us to at least qualify from the group stage and make the semi-final. Anything after that is a bonus (we aren't called Kings of Bronze for nothing). This assumes Rohr signs a new deal... If he leaves then all bets are off
I reckon Rohr will sign a new deal
 

Rasendori

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I reckon Mali may surprise people and go on to win the whole tournament.

They were runners up in 2015 during the U17 World Cup losing to Nigeria. 2 years later, they had a goal wrongly disallowed against Spain in the semi-final. In the U20 World Cup, they played no friendlies leading up to the tournament which led to them having a sluggish start, despite that, they were entertaining to watch.
Mali won AFCON at U19 just last year, featuring pretty much the same players that won AFCON U17 twice in a row (2015 and 2017)
In the senior 2019 AFCON, they were for me the most impressive side to watch from an aesthetic standpoint.

Players to look out for in 2021 AFCON:
Diadie Samassékou, Sékou Koïta and Cheick Doucouré.

*Diadie Samassékou:
Very strong showing in the Europa League last season. And was also impressive
in the past AFCON tournament. Made a seamless transition from box to box midielder to the deepest defensive lynchpin. His spacial awareness to disrupt the rhythm of
the opposition is perhaps his greatest quality.


*Cheick Doucoure:
A defensive midfielder both diminitive in stature, and an elusive dribbler. Progressive in his ball distribution and exuberant in movement. I would like to see Magassouba give him a start in an admittedly stacked Mali midfield. At club level, I think a manager similar to Arsene Wenger could really have a galvanising influence on him. A manager with an affinity to technical players who're somewhat obscure. Could potentially reach the heights Alex Song achieved under Wenger, and for a greater longetivity.


*Sékou Koïta:
Dynamic, extremely direct goalscorer. Needs to work on his decision making, but has the versatility to cause problems when running the channels.
Look at the locomotion here :


Other players that may have an impact, albeit considerably less, I suspect, than the aforementioned three.
Moussa Djenepo
Yves Bissouma
Haidara
Youba Diarra


Adama Traore from Wolves has committed to Mali, and I think he'll cause serious problems.'

In contrast, the Doucoure from Watford is still eligible to represent Mali. He's rejected them in the past, and has publically declared his preference to play for France.
He's played for France at youth level, and given he's yet to play a game at senior level, he may be willing to change his mind. I don't think he will, in all honesty. In any case, midfield is Mali's strong point.