Kalidou Koulibaly of Senegal battles for the ball with Mohamed Salah of Egypt through the 2021 Africa … [+]
If tournaments had been decided by FIFA rankings, then the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations would have a transparent favourite.
Contemporary off their run to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals. Morocco are ranked thirteenth on the earth and are on first rate type over the previous yr. They’re in search of their first title since 1976 however their basic good type over current years hasn’t translated into AFCON success. Morocco haven’t even reached the semi-finals in any of the previous 9 tournaments.
That mentioned, stable defending can win tournaments. The Atlas Lions solely conceded one objective of their first 5 video games on the World Cup earlier than their semi-final loss to France, and solely conceded 4 in complete in 2023. If Morocco’s protection, led by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, can match their World Cup type, then they’ve shot at a primary AFCON title in nearly half a century.
The final seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments have had seven completely different winners, however the hosts didn’t win, and even attain the ultimate, in any of these tournaments.
That’s not nice information for hosts Cote d’Ivoire, who received AFCON in 2015 however are in a troublesome group with Nigeria this trip.
Nigeria are unbeaten in seven going into this event, however may solely handle two attracts towards comparatively weak opposition within the final worldwide break. They’ll be hoping star striker Victor Osimhen can push them on to a primary AFCON title since 2013.
Osimhen was a key a part of Napoli’s Serie A triumph final season, and was ranked eighth finest on the earth by this yr’s Ballon d’Or in addition to being named CAF African Footballer of the Yr. He’s joined by a number of expertise upfront, together with 23-year-old Victor Boniface, who’s having fun with a breakout season at Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen with 16 objectives in all competitions for the German membership.
The final hosts to win AFCON had been Egypt in 2006, who shall be hoping Mohamed Salah can carry his robust type this season into the Africa Cup of Nations. Salah has 18 objectives for Premier
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North African sides make up 4 of the highest 5 sides in FIFA’s rankings, however none has received an AFCON event south of the Sahara since 2010.
Since profitable AFCON on dwelling turf in 2004, Tunisia have solely received previous the quarter-finals as soon as, and that was in Egypt in 2019. They face the hardest group primarily based on FIFA rankings with Mali, South Africa and Namibia making up Group E.
Algeria received AFCON in 2019, however haven’t made it previous the group stage in three of the 4 most up-to-date tournaments to be held outdoors North Africa.
Algeria go into this event unbeaten in 2023, and have strengthened their squad with the addition of Roma’s attacking midfielder Houssem Aouar. The one-time French worldwide switched to the nation of his dad and mom final summer season and has since performed 5 video games for Algeria, scoring twice in a win over Cape Verde. Algeria shall be hoping Aouar can get well from damage in time for the event. They’re alongside Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Angola in Group D, which is the weakest on paper.
In 2021, Senegal received the Africa Cup of Nations with stars like Kalidou Koulibaly and Sadio Mane at their peak. Each had poor spells final season earlier than transferring to golf equipment in Saudi Arabia in the summertime, however with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur’s Pape Matar Sarr and Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson including to Senegal’s already very robust squad, a back-to-back AFCON title could possibly be inside attain.
Senegal face a difficult group together with Cameroon, who’ve recalled Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana after he was booted out of the squad through the 2022 World Cup, and Guinea, whose striker Serhou Guirassy is among the many most in-form gamers in Europe this season with 17 objectives in 14 Bundesliga matches for Stuttgart.
2012 noticed underdogs Zambia shock everybody to win AFCON. May there be one other shock this yr?
With the perfect third-place groups reaching the knockout levels, there’s at all times an opportunity {that a} workforce may put collectively a run to the event’s latter levels with a number of shock outcomes.
