Tunisia drew 0-0 and Mali won 1-0. Both Mali and Tunisia qualify with South Africa keeping qualifying as one of the best 3rd place ranked teams.
Group stage is over.
Group stage is over.
AFCON Egypt 2019
- Thread starter el3mel
- Start date
KO stages :
QF can be huge if all big teams qualified and no surprises happened, could be something like that :
Egypt vs Cameroon/Nigeria
Algeria vs Ivory Coast
Senegal vs Morocco
Madagascar/Congo vs Ghana
QF can be huge if all big teams qualified and no surprises happened, could be something like that :
Egypt vs Cameroon/Nigeria
Algeria vs Ivory Coast
Senegal vs Morocco
Madagascar/Congo vs Ghana
Last edited:
Mane and Salah kept apart until the final if they both make it.
What's happened to all the big names in African football lately? Mane, Salah and Mahrez stand out, and obviously Aubameyang hasn't made it, but the quality seems to have regressed massively lately.
What's happened to all the big names in African football lately? Mane, Salah and Mahrez stand out, and obviously Aubameyang hasn't made it, but the quality seems to have regressed massively lately.
Algeria, Senegal and Morocco have great squad overall. The rest of the big teams regressed though and there aren't as many stars in every team as it was previously.
Yeah that was sort of my point. I was wondering why Africa wasn't producing as many stars now as 20 years ago, when conditions and money for sport seem to have increased slightly.
I’m not even sure how we qualifiedHopefully a good match mate, and we win, obviously.
2 defeats in the group.
Don’t think we have a chance against you guys.
If we manage to past you our rest of the route to the final will be, hell, Nigeria/Cameroon in QF, Algeria/Ivory Coast in semi final and Senegal/Morocco in the finalI’m not even sure how we qualified
2 defeats in the group.
Don’t think we have a chance against you guys.
.The who’s who of the continent ito football powerhousesIf we manage to past you our rest of the route to the final will be, hell, Nigeria/Cameroon in QF, Algeria/Ivory Coast in semi final and Senegal/Morocco in the final
Suppose we’ll find an upset or 2 along the way. But yeah, hell of a draw!
Who were the african stars of 20 years ago, other than weah?
Think he means withing the last 20 years.
I agree with him. Just looking at the squads of Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Ivory Coast of a tournament like AFCON Ghana 2008, 11 years ago and comparing them to their current squads, massive decline in quality over the whole pitch.
Though 2008 was my most favorite AFCON so I might be biased towards it.
He's talking about stars though. Even in 2008, who were the stars? Drogba, Eto'o, ...? Maybe Yaya? Who am i missing?
I'm not sure I get your definition of stars. If you mean playing in top European clubs I don't agree much. He's talking about big names in his first post and in this period these teams were full of top quality players and known talents all over the pitch, regardless of how their clubs career went.
Yeah so we're talking about big names. I struggle to think of big names from that afcon other than the 3 i mentioned. Oh, and essien
Ivory Coast's squad of 2008 had several known players though ? Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Salomon Kalu, Drogba, AbdelKadaar Keita etc out of my mind. Maybe you're not interested much in African football but I'm sure their lineup was well known for any follower at this time and it always came as a surprise this generation didn't win anything.
I don't agree with the idea of big names = playing in top European clubs imo. Egypt's 2008 was entirely domestic but will stomp Salah's team easily.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Team of the group stage.
The players from this edition are unknowns?
I watch Ivory Coast or Cameroon playing these days and I honestly struggle to know more than 2 or 3 players playing for each of them, while back in the day I was memorizing most of their lineup.
Again maybe you were not following most of the names at these times much but yeah the quality has dropped massively across most top African teams.
Has it? Or is it that the top african teams are different than what they were back then? Because i look at Senegal and i don't see how their players are particularly worse than 2008 Ivory Coast
But i digress, the original discussion was about stars, not average quality of teams. I don't see how this edition is any different from 2008 in that regard...
Senegal, Morocco and Algeria have the best African squads currently but imo, Ivory Coast's squad of 2006-2008 period was stronger than them. Opinions though.
I agree, but that's one country who just happened to have a particularly good generation. And it wasn't much better either
Looking at the senegal team, i can see them turning out even better than that Ivory Coast in a couple years
Yeah but what I was saying is the beauty of this period was several African teams having great generations at once and they'll clashed together in these tournaments, which made it a pretty entertaining period for African football.
Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Mali...Egypt may not be a great team but they have Salah. Ivory Coast is still good, so is Ghana, so is Nigeria...
Mali aren't really that strong team imo.
Nigeria have been absolutely terrible, Ghana and Ivory Coast are kinda average.
We're terrible bar Salah.
@giorno over the last year's you've had...
Eto'o, Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Toure, Essien as top top stars that could claim to be playing at the very top level.
Then moving down a tier or 2 you've got the recognisable names that weren't necessarily the top level talents, but were a level above what's on display now.
Geremi, Lauren, Diouf, Mikel, Keita, Gyan, Okocha, Adebayor, Kanu etc
Eto'o, Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Toure, Essien as top top stars that could claim to be playing at the very top level.
Then moving down a tier or 2 you've got the recognisable names that weren't necessarily the top level talents, but were a level above what's on display now.
Geremi, Lauren, Diouf, Mikel, Keita, Gyan, Okocha, Adebayor, Kanu etc
Salah, Mane, Koulibaly, Mahrez, Aubameyang
Ziyech, Keita, Gueye, Zaha, Pepe, Kessie, Bennacer, Brahimi, Ghoulam, Aurier, Wanyama, Benatia, Amrabat, Hakimi....
I don't see the difference honestly
I don't as well, i think that the main difference between that period and now is that most of the african players then were playing in England. i think that's why people in here have this impression of "there was more recognizable names back then compared to now".
Yep. And also Cameroon and Nigeria(historically the two big powerhouses of african football in terms of players) had more recognizable names back then
If I was making a list, I'd add:
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.
Amadou Haidara:
Fellow countryman to Cheick Doucoure. Dynamic central midfielder with a well rounded skillset. Ideally paired with a midfielder with defensive acumen given his inclination to press deep midfielders of the opposition. In a high octane system he has a high ceiling.
Samuel Chukwueze:
Graceful left footed right winger with high technical ability. Particularly the accomplished dribbler. He was toying with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. One slight I have of him is his reluctance to use his right foot.
Andre Onana:
At this point I've gotten tired of typing.
Ibrahim Sangare:
Amadou Diawara:
Said pre tournament I fancied Morocco to win it. After seeing how the draw has panned out I think whoever wins out of Senegal/Morocco (assuming both wins their next game) will win it. The route to the final is so much easier compared to the other half of the draw. Egypt haven't been overly impressive for me despite being 3/3. Think they overly rely on Salah too much still (albeit no-one actually seems to be able to stop him). Nigeria losing to Madagascar really shifted the quality of the sides of the draw.
Honestly I'm just afraid that an Algeria vs Morocco final might happen because I know some absolutely insane shit will go down in France if It's the case.
You are winning.Hopefully a good match mate, and we win, obviously.
Our coach is overly defensive and plays not to lose. And yet manages to consistently lose.
3-0 Egypt.
And they all get their bonuses anyway
I think if you compare today's top African players, the level is much lower than 10-15 years ago.
Ghana had the likes of Kuffour, Appiah, Essien, Muntari as well as Gyan, Mensah etc.
CIV had Drogba, Yaya, Kolo and just below them the likes of Abdul Kader Keita, Dindane, Zokora, Eboue, Kalou x2....
Cameroon had the likes of Eto'o, Song x2, Makoun, Womé, Geremi....
Mali had Diarra, Seydou Keita, Sissoko, Senegal with the likes of Diouf, Diao, Fadiga, Faye and later on they had that squad with Sow, Cissé, Niang and Ba....
And I haven't even touched on Nigeria or Egypt.
Now you're struggling to name top players outside of Mané, Aubameyang and Salah....
I'd say there has been a noticeable drop. CAN 2008 was awesome by the way- streets ahead of the more recent tournaments.
Again, i disagree
I can name plenty of african players off the top of my head who are on the same level as the ones you mentioned
Ayew brothers, atsu, asamoah, thomas, aboubakar, marega, matip, kessie, seri, zaha, pepe, bennacer, mahrez, feghouli, atal, brahimi, benatia, salah, ziyech, amrabat, hakimi, belhanda, mazraoui, koulibaly, mane, niang, sarr, gueye, haidara, keita, traore, ndidi, aina, musa, samuel, aubameyang, aurier, wanyama...
First 16th round game is going on now. Morocco vs Benin.
Uganda-Senegal will play later today too.
Uganda-Senegal will play later today too.
Benin is leading 1-0 against Morocco!!
Morocco 1-1.