If the Nations Cup was every four years like the EUROs or Asian Cup then I could understand CAF increasing the number of teams to 24. But as long as it's held every two years it's fine the way it is. How many African countries would even be able to handle the extra burden of eight more teams? Since this is an African thread, I don't want to get into CONCACAF, but I have to say that I've watched and followed the qualifying for the Nations Cup more than I did the last Gold Cup. That's how irrelevant the Gold Cup has become. And let's not even get into CONCACAF Champions League which is an even bigger bore. CAF and AFC are both well run confederations that should keep doing what they're doing.
I think Algeria has been slightly fortunate. By fortunate I don't mean that they don't deserve their results but they're doing something at a level that may not be maintainable (then again, I said the same about Leicester last season). Algeria doesn't create many chances at all. But the team is so clinical that any chance they create is typically a goal. It may eventually catchup to them. There may be a point where they won't get bailed by clinical finishing. If that point is reached, the team will completely lose its killer instinct. Both Nigeria and Algeria faced a very similar Tanzanian squad at home within the past year. Algeria beat Tanzania 7-0 at home. Nigeria won 1-0. I watched both matches and Nigeria looked much more threatening than Algeria did. I'd even estimate that Nigeria created triple the amount of chances than Algeria did in their match. And yet, Algeria scored 6 more goals. It's really strange. Whomever has players on form will win that World Cup group. Algeria just happens to have the on-form players from last season. But your fortunes in football can quickly change. And 4 out of the 6 qualifiers will be played in fall 2017. Still a lot of football to be played. Teams will grow or regress. Forms will drop and re-emerge. And injuries are bound to happen. Nigeria has the depth to survive any injuries in the attack though.
Interesting note. Re injuries Algerias first 11 may be slightly better or slightly worse than Nigeria's IMO. What is not debatable is the depth that Nigeria has over Algeria. I think one or two key injuries will effect Algeria A LOT MORE than it will Nigeria. This may be a key factor.
I dont really think Nigeria is "transitioning" as you claim. Nigeria had the youngest squad in Brazil 2014. The core of the team is still there, its just that even younger players and stars are being added to the equation. A team in transition would be like Holland, who is struggling after key players are getting old without adequate replacements. Nigeria is facing nothing of the sort. In fact talent wise Nigeria hasn't been in a better place since 1994, maybe even ever. We dont have a Kanu or Okocha but we have a far stronger overall squad than perhaps any time in history. We only seem to have a problem at RB, which may be solved when we Hull City's Moses Odubajo returns from injury. We failed to qualify for the last 2 tournaments for a number of reasons. One of the main ones was that we had corrupted coaches who were not using our best players for one reason or another. That dark period seems to now be over with Gernot Rohr.
It had the youngest squad, sure. But it also had a lot of deadweights. Most of the bench had no business in Brazil and the current Nigeria squad is a distant relative of the 2014 World Cup squad. Of that squad only Enyeama, Ahmed Musa, Mikel, Moses, Oboabona, Onazi, Omeruo, Emenike, Ambrose have been anywhere near the national team in the past few years (that's 9 out of 23 players). Odemwingie, Emenike, Enyeama and Yobo, while good, are now retired from the national team and only Enyeama really would be an upgrade to current options (Ikeme doing a stand up job though). Oboabona, Omeruo, Ambrose have failed to progress and have been rightfully shafted for players like Ekong, Balogun, Awaziem. Emenike, Ideye and now Ighalo are in my eyes just stand ins until the truely elite strikers hit the ground running (Osimhen, Success, maybe Iheanacho, although not sure entirely where he should play in the national team). Sure, we have a spine of Musa, Mikel, Moses, Onazi (that means just four!!! players survived till 2016), but the truth is that the real gamechangers for Nigeria are players like Iheanacho, Iwobi, Simon, Balogun, Success, Ndidi, Shehu, Odubajo and maybe further down the line Yahaya, the Nwakali brothers, Nura Abdullahi, Osimhen, Awaziem, Chukweuze, Ezekiel, Troost Ekong, Etebo, Matthew, Musa Muhammad, Sadiq Umar and so on. The thing with all this quality that Nigeria has is that its quality for the future. Its a team of rough cut diamonds with Mikel the lynchpin that pulls them together. This is a team in transition. Mikel being the only constant. Yobo is out, Emenike is out, Enyeama is out. The thing that differentiates Holland from Nigeria is that Nigeria is transitioning from a almost no star team to an all star team.
What ever happened to Kenneth Omeru for Nigeria? He hasn't played for Nigeria in an important match in a while. Does anyone have an idea what's going on with Cameroon? Hugo Broos seems to have recently ignored players like Alex Song, Bedimo, Nkoulou, Mbia, Chedjou, and Chupo Moting. Meanwhile Aboubakar and Njie had troubles with transfers and haven't been integrated by the squad. Does he really plan on overhauling the whole squad? I'm so confused. Those group of absentees are good enough to beat any African squad. But Cameroon did win their last few matches so I can't say it hasn't worked.
Back on loan in Turkey. I guess he's not progressing well enough. Counter that with Awaziem, who has started successfully for Porto (the new coach however has seemed to have demoted him), Ndidi, who is a phenom, Ekong, who was inspirational in Rio and Balogun, who was one of the most highly regarded CBs in Germany last season,. Omeruo still has time on his side, but he should have chosen Besiktas on loan and European football. Omeruo just has quality competition. Aboubakar and Njie were likely just excused because of transfer issues. Song has been labelled a bad boy and is persona non grata for Cameroon. Choupo Moting was called up for the qualifier, but had a minor injury. Not sure whats up with Mbia, Nkoulou, Chedjou and Bedimo. They are Cameroon's best players and even if some of them are on their last legs, the coach needs them for the Group of Death. There is a strong chance Nkoulou, Chedjou, Bedimo were just given a break as the game was a dead rubber and the coach wanted to experiment a bit. They all featured in May. Not sure about Mbia, but he is still team captain, so I think he'll be back for Algeria... By the way: You forgot Liverpool's Matip and Malaga's Kameni.
Chidozie Awaziem was incredible for Porto last season. They had such huge defensive problems and let in more goals last season than any year in the last 20 years. Awaziem was such a huge improvement on the defense when he replaced Martins Indi or Marcano. Joel Matip apparently expressed no intent to return to the NT in order to focus on Liverpool. However I could see him pull a Kevin Prince Boateng and choose to play important qualifiers. I keep on thinking Kameni retired because of his lack of call-ups since 2012 but he did start within the past year. Cameroon is going to need Nkoulou, Chedjou, and Mbia. Those two can turn a game around with their set piece heading abilities. It will allow Cameroon to play the counter. Njie was one of the fastest players I've ever seen when he played at Lyon. Aboubakar is also at his best when he's facing goal. I can see this team winning the group if they actually use their best lineups.
I feel like I've heard this same song and dance before from Nigeria. Not sure though. African WCQ is mysterious to me.. anything can happen.
Honestly I was shocked to see him relegated to Porto B via the new coach. Stupifying. Especially given Marcano has replaced him... I have no justification for Marcano ousting Awaziem. Felipe - sure. But Marcano... Matip, if anytime, will come back for the World Cup. I think he's had enough of the federation. Kameni was shafted after the 2014 World Cup fiasco and his club troubles. No real reason why he isn't starting though, save for all the young talented goalkeepers that left Barca.
It's weird how Porto promoted a teenage Andre Silva and sent Aboubakar packing when he had a 13 goal season for a poor team. Aboubakar was just about the only player who kept Porto competitive in last years Champions League. Porto also bought 28-year-old striker Laurent Depoitre from the Belgian league whom they considered a better player. Then you have the relegation of Awaziem to the reserve side. I can understand Alex Telles starting at CB but not Marcano. I don't know what Nuno is doing at all as their coach. His mistakes at Valencia last season catalyzed their demise.
Just looking at timetable for round 1 next month, out of 10 games 9 of them are played in different hours, great news for us who want to watch as more as possible
Forgot we're just down to 20 teams! Nice to hear, but it can be overkill! Should be moved to World Cup qualifying thread though... UPCOMING GAMES: GROUP A: Tunisia - Guinea DRCongo - Libya GROUP B: Zambia - Nigeria Algeria - Cameroon GROUP C: Gabon - Morocco Cote d'Ivoire - Mali GROUP D: Senegal - Cape Verde Burkina Faso - South Africa GROUP E: Ghana - Ugana Congo - Egypt The obvious games to watch: Anything from group B. Cote d'Ivoire - Mali Congo - Egypt
Algeria-Cameroon looks like a good game too. Morocco is a team that intrigues me and Gabon has Aubameyang. That might be worth a watch too.
I can't blame them. That red card he had in the WC was ridiculous. It's as if he didn't really care and didn't want to be there. I would have frozen him out of the NT too until he showed some sort of desire to return and earn his spot.
http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=AboXJ2Ya7D3pUkvhXnF0FA== Seeds for the draw scheduled to be on October 19th: Pot 1: Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria Pot 2: Tunisia, Mali, Burkina Faso, DR Congo Pot 3: Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt Pot 4: Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau Biggest change is Algeria overtaking Burkina Faso for the 1st pot. But that 3rd pot look really strong.