African Cup of Nations 2022
The most notable tournament for the African Continent, the African Cup of Nations (AFCAN), will start on the 9th of January next year (2022).
The final part will gather 24 teams, which will fight for the title of the best.
Many squads will be strengthened by the players from the English Premier League, who send about 40 footballers to the tournament.
Almost any of these athletes can get to the starting 11, but we’ll need to find the right balance in the team and get the best of our squad.
Let’s start from the most critical position:
Goalkeeper: Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea).
Since Andre Onana is still an Ajax player, plus he’s disqualified until February, so the choice was easy.
Mendy is in tremendous form in his club, both in EPL and Champions League.
Many gambling operators, such as Leonbets, which has a review at https://bookmaker-ratings.com/review/leonbets-review/, accept bets on the Londoners as one of the favourites in each tournament they participate.
Chelsea is still the team with the least goals conceded in England with four goals. Manchester City has six, which is the closest result.
The next one is quite far, Liverpool with 11 goals.
Mendy worked hard to get this result: his saves and confidence brought the defense where it’s now.
Left-WingBack: Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast & Burnley)
Maxwel is more of a winger and attacker than a defender, but we want passion and a lot of scored goals from this squad.
Cornet is left-footed, which is perfect, solid, and fast.
If we need to defend the result, my first candidate is Adam Masina (Morocco & Watford): a 6.27 ft wall that would be almost impossible to go through is a perfect choice.
Right-WingBack: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)
In Pep Guardiola’s team, this Algerian player had so much experience pressing on the opponents’ side and tackles that he can play on the right and be productive both in front and at the back.
Center-Back pair: William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria & Watford), Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast & Manchester United)
Despite Bailly having a contract with a top club, we suspect that Troost-Ekong would have been the leader in this fantasy-football pair.
The Ivorian doesn’t have the personality to guide the defenders’ line and sometimes makes mistakes if he doesn’t have someone who controls him right next to the center-back.
But together, this might become a perfect match.
Defensive Midfielder: Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria & Leicester City)
Ndidi’s high class is so undeniable that many get past it and forget to mention how good the Nigerian player performs.
It’s almost impossible to remember the day when he made a mistake.
And when it happened, the slip never led to the team’s loss.
Ndidi is a player any club would want to have.
- VIEW ALSO : 5 Sports Events with the Biggest Betting Amounts
Central Attacking Midfielders pair: Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast & Crystal Palace), Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast & Arsenal)
Each of these athletes is one of a kind, marvelous and confident to take a chance out of nowhere on their own.
They are using their skills and nothing else. As we’ll list further, Pepe and Zaha won’t have any problems in scoring big numbers with such partners.
Right and Left Wingers: Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool) and Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
We decided to name them together because they became one over the years of playing at Merseyside.
They think, create, and score as a whole, which will help orchestrate beautiful and complicated attacks for this squad.
Forward: Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Arsenal)
Although Aubameyang still has some hardships in Arsenal and a bit of a problem with scoring, he still can do at least two things perfectly: open for a pass and run so fast that nobody can get him.