I think the players are tested even a few days later and can be cleared to play if tested negative. Senegal has already had 3 players cleared to play after testing positive.
AFCON will be won by either Algeria or Senegal. I´m going back and forth between these two... I think they have both solidified themselves as the two strongest sides in Africa in the last three years. That´s why I don´t see your "big team flying under the radar" winning it this time.
I want to agree with you. Those are definately the logical choices. I dont remember the last time the afcon was won by the logical choice. We will see.
See, it's a World Cup related AFCON. By that I mean it's in a World Cup year or close to a World Cup. And my stats tell me that AFCON will be won by a team that is among the six highest ranked in the ELO Ratings. As this was the case with all winners since at least the 16 team format. 98 Egypt ___________6) 02 Cameroon_______1) 06 Egypt____________5) 10 Egypt____________4) 13 Nigeria__________4) 17 Cameroon_______6) Current top six in ELO Ratings consists of Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. I went through process of elimination and Algeria and Senegal are left. The other four for reasons I stated here sometime ago I don't see winning. And I don't see a lower ranked side winning it either. Not in a World Cup year.
Egypt could have the tournament experience and maturity to lift the trophy but my problem with them is that Queiroz came out in press conference saying that Egypt's main focus is to qualify for Qatar and less the AFCON. In fact the AFCON serves as a preparation for the World Cup playoffs in March. That's why I think Egypt despite having a very solid team won't challenge for the trophy. If they finish 2nd in Group D they have an extremely tough path to the final as well.
Usually I'm very hesitant to pick the same teams of the last edition to reach the latter stages (semi-finals and final) of a tournament again. Time and time it was proven that this is only something excellent sides can do. Doesn't matter if it's the World Cup or AFCON. But in this particular case I see a number of reasons why Algeria and Senegal will go very far again. Senegal have been chasing the AFCON trophy for a long time now. They want finally some silverware. I believe they are stronger than in 2018 or 2019. Algeria have maintained their level of 2019 more or less. Their long unbeaten run shows how well-drilled of a side they are. Every time I watch their coach Belmadi or the players in an interview they state that they play for their people. And it's not wind. You can feel it.
That is typical Queiroz, trying to contain expectations so any result he gets won't hurt him as much. That doesn't mean he is using the AFCON as preparation for just the CAF WC qualifying playoff any more than any other side or he will be any less noisy and passionate/disruptive in each game Egypt plays in AFCON. But, regardless, I don't think Egypt will win AFCON even though I don't expect they will do poorly either. They will almost certainly advance from their group with an equal chance to top it as Nigeria. The rest will depend on who they meet in the knock out stages etc
Yeah I thought about that as well. Ahead of a tournament it's sometimes smart to lower expectations. But compare that to Belmadi. He came out saying straight away "we want to defend our title."
I will share my detailed predictions with all groups and knockout stage brackets later this day. Here you have already a summary of how I see things panning out in Cameroon.
In Egypt group I dont the Nigerians will do well in the afcon this time.There afcon record has not been that good in past 10 years.Yes they won the tournment in 2013 but they did not qualify in 2012 2015 and 2017. I think this will be nigerias 1st afcon main tournment failure.I can see Guinea Bissau or sudan getting a result against them. However I think this will help them in the world cup qualifiers.
Here some major takeaways from my predictions. I predict that only for the 2nd time two North African teams will reach the semi-finals in an AFCON held in Sub Saharian Africa since the launch of the 16 team format in 1996. The first time was in Angola 2010 when Egypt defended their title and Algeria finished fourth. I think North African football as a whole is in a better state and it will show off in some way at the tournament albeit I predict the winner to be from West Africa. Another major point is that I see for the first time since 1998 neither of Nigeria nor Ghana reaching the semi-finals. Nigeria was excluded for the 1998 edition. The last time both Nigeria and Ghana missed out on the semi-finals on purely sportive reasons was in 1986. So I break with a tradition here. However I'm not very confident in this particular prediction. Part of me thinks that one of them will get their shit together and reach the last four.
Another point is I predict that Zimbabwe will make the quarterfinals. This would be very good for African football as a whole to have also a team that is not from West or North Africa in the quarterfinals. In that regard I see Zimbabwe following on the footsteps of Madagascar 2019 giving the tournament a little bit more diversity in the latter stages.
I agree with you I dont think Ghana or Nigeria has in it in them to reach the semi finals either. I thought Ghana not qualifying for 2018 wc and not making past the round of 16 at afcon made believe that the pre ghana 2006 level has returned but this current ghana team is still better than teams they had before 2006. This ghana team has the same manager as in 2010 but it is not as talented as team they had between 2006-2014 where they and the ivory coast were at level of senegal or higher in africa.Unlike Nigeria I dont think ghana is going to bounce back in the wcq qualifiers but I could see the two meeting in the wcq play offs.
I,m very sure the winner will be either be Senegal or Algeria. Since Egypt 2010 afcon victory there has different winners of the afcon each time. I do think its finally Senegal time since Algeria won it last time and now its held in Cameroon. Cameroon won it against senegal in 2002 so I think senegal could get revenge and win their first afcon in Cameroon.I think if there any other team to shock I think the ivory coast could spring a surprise after failing to qualify for the wc.
Yeah, Ivory Coast is a sleeper team in this competition. If they start clicking upfront they could go all the way. They are not short of talent. However I was very dissappointed by their exit in WCQ to Cameroon. My gut says they won't turn it around under their current manager and it will be another failure. But I could be wrong on this.
The other 2 teams in the Nigeria/Egypt group look hopeless to me so I would be surprised if either of them lose points to Sudan or Guinea Bissau. In fact, from what I saw in the Arab Cup, Sudan was really poor to the point of being rubbish.
Even though people are writing Nigeria off, and I myself am uncertain of our fortunes, Nigeria (if we qualify) is perhaps the most consistent team to make at least the semis in the afcon. 2019 Bronze 2017 DNQ 2015 DNQ 2013 Gold 2012 DNQ 2010 Bronze 2008 Quarters 2006 Bronze 2004 Bronze 2002 Bronze 2000 Silver So out of the last 8 tournaments we qualified for, 7 out of those we made the semis, and we have never lost a 3rd place match. So we've been at least the 3rd best team in 7 of our last 8 tournaments. Also the current team is actually better than a lot of those teams , and even though our preparations have been chaotic this time, we've had some bad preparations in many of those tournaments as well.
I know all that. It was a very close call to make. May your Super Eagles prove me wrong. Not ideal coaching situation, bad preparation, some absences. It will be tough to handle all this. The rest of the teams are no slouches. You can't deny how strong Algeria and Senegal have been. How the rejuvenated Morocco looks very enticing. What a fortress Cameroon is when playing at home. How Egypt plays much better as a team under Queiroz etc...
My predictions for the entire AFCON 2021 Matchday 1 Cameroon - Burkina Faso | Cameroon Ethiopia - Cape Verde | Draw Senegal - Zimbabwe | Senegal Guinea - Malawi | Guinea Morocco - Ghana | Ghana Comoros - Gabon | Draw Nigeria - Egypt | Draw Sudan - Guinea-Bissau | Draw Algeria - Sierra Leone | Algeria Equatorial Guinea - Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast Tunisia - Mali | Mali Mauritania - Gambia | Mauritania Matchday 2 Cameroon - Ethiopia | Cameroon Cape Verde - Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso Senegal - Guinea | Senegal Malawi - Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe Morocco - Comoros | Morocco Gabon - Ghana | Gabon Nigeria - Sudan | Nigeria Guinea-Bissau - Egypt | Egypt Ivory Coast - Sierra Leone | Ivory Coast Algeria - Equatorial Guinea | Algeria Gambia - Mali | Mali Tunisia - Mauritania | Tunisia Matchday 3 Cape Verde - Cameroon | Draw Burkina Faso - Ethiopia | Burkina Faso Malawi - Senegal | Senegal Zimbabwe - Guinea | Zimbabwe Gabon - Morocco | Morocco Ghana - Comoros | Ghana Guinea-Bissau - Nigeria | Nigeria Egypt - Sudan | Egypt Ivory Coast - Algeria | Algeria Sierra Leone - Equatorial Guinea | Equatorial Guinea Gambia - Tunisia | Draw Mali - Mauritania | Mali Predicted Group Stage Tables 1) Cameroon________2-1-0_________7 2) Burkina Faso______2-0-1_________6 3) Cape Verde_______0-2-1_________2 4) Ethiopia__________0-1-2_________1 1) Senegal__________3-0-0__________9 2) Zimbabwe________2-0-1__________6 3) Guinea___________1-0-2__________3 4) Malawi___________0-0-3__________0 1) Ghana____________2-0-1_________6 2) Morocco__________2-0-1_________6 3) Gabon____________1-1-1_________4 4) Comoros__________0-1-2_________1 1) Nigeria ____________2-1-0________7 2) Egypt____________2-1-0__________7 3) Sudan____________0-1-2_________1 4) Guinea-Bissau____0-1-2_________1 1) Algeria_____________3-0-0________9 2) Ivory Coast_________2-0-1________6 3) Equatorial Guinea___1-0-2________3 4) Sierra Leone________0-0-3________0 1) Mali________________3-0-0________9 2) Tunisia_____________1-1-1________4 3) Mauritania_________1-0-2_________3 4) Gambia____________0-1-2_________1 Ranking of third-placed teams 1) Gabon____________1-1-1__________4 2) Guinea____________1-0-2__________3 3) Mauritania________1-0-2__________3 4) Equatorialguinea___1-0-2_________3 ------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Cape Verde_______0-2-1__________2 6) Sudan____________0-1-2__________1 Round of 16 Morocco over Burkina Faso Nigeria over Mauritania Senegal over Gabon Mali over Ivory Coast Zimbabwe over Tunisia Cameroon over Equatorialguinea Algeria over Egypt Ghana over Guinea Quarterfinals Morocco over Nigeria Senegal over Mali Cameroon over Zimbabwe Algeria over Ghana Semi-finals Senegal over Morocco Algeria over Cameroon Third place Cameroon over Morocco Final on 06/02/2022 in Yaoundé Senegal over Algeria in extra time Final Standings Champions: Senegal (1st title) Runners-up: Algeria Third place: Cameroon Fourth place: Morocco Eliminated at the quarterfinals stage Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, Ghana Eliminated in the Round of 16 Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Equatorialguinea, Egypt, Guinea Eliminated in the group stage Cape Verde, Sudan, Ethiopia, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia Worst performers 23) Malawi______________0-0-3_______0 24) Sierra Leone_________0-0-3_______0
Now, why do I pick Zimbabwe in particular to surprise? Well, first of all I think they are quite decent. They don´t let in many goals. They played Ghana and South Africa relatively close in WCQ. They are a side who is capable to hold the ball. They do suffer some absences like Nakamba from Aston Villa and Munetsi from Stade Reims. So their midfield is a bit weakened. Billiat, the striker retired from the national team after the failure in WCQ. On the other hand they have left back Jordan Zemura from Bournemouth and Tino Kadewere on the right wing from Lyon coming in. Both featured almost not at all in WCQ. Especially Kadewere can provide some spark and danger upfront. Then, you look at their group. I mean Guinea have been subpar for quite some time now. They couldn´t beat the likes of Sudan and Guinea-Bissau in WCQ. They do possess more talent than Zimbabwe but it seems that they haven´t gelled with each other yet. Malawi looked promising against Ivory Coast in WCQ but then again they ship too many goals. They are quite naive at the back. In tournament football a solid defense is indispensable. If Zimbabwe play their cards right four to six points in Group B should be attainable. Historically they featured four times at the AFCON. Exited always in the group stage. But most of the times they were in tough groups yet performed not badly. These players have mostly played at the past two AFCONs. So experience is on their side as well. If they finish 2nd then they will play the runners-up from Group F which will be either Tunisia or Mali. That´s definately not the worst path to the quarterfinals. Let´s see if they can take advantage of Guinea's struggle and go a little bit on a run here.
9 Senegal players have tested positive for Covid including Koulibaly, and Mendy. 2 of their 3 keepers are positive. Fingers crossed this tournament doesn't become a farce.
I will start to hate this tournament because of this covid tests , "burkina faso" 3 key defenders tested positive in less than 48H just before the opening game against Cameron is not a funny joke. Btw the cameronian government who controls this tests , the CAF don't interfer at all so...
I heard it wasn't the Cameroon government but an independent organization that was carrying out the tests. This can be a big mess. Already during world cup qualifiers there were accusations of false positives done intentionally to knock out key players.
Not fully related to this tournament but former Mali International Ousmane Coulibaly almost died of heart attack when playing for his club Al Wakrah. He didn't take the 3rd dose of the vaccine recently but it is vaccinated with two. Even if you want to think another way it's quite clear why these athletes are collapsing on the pitch after they got the vaccine.