By Amakye Ansah
• AFCON 2021 BEST 11
•CAMEROON 2021 Ultimate Team
•The continent is blessed with enough talents
Africa players are flourishing very well in the top-flight leagues in Europe. Here on the continent, most are putting up an amazing performance.
The best player in the EPL is Mohammed Salah. The English topflight has more than 40 African players.
Taiwo Awoniyi, Ilhas Bebou and Edmund Tapsoba are making the continent proud in Germany.
In Italy, Victor Osimhen and Kalidou Koulibaly are very important for Napoli. Frank Kessie and Ismael Bennacer are jewels for AC Milan.
There is a Moroccan Castle in Sevilla: Yassine Bounou, En Nesyri Youssef, Iddrissi Oussama and Munir El Haddadi. They are all valuable to Sevilla in Spanish Laliga.
In French Ligue 1, Kamal Deen Suleymana (Rennes), Mohammed Bayo (Clermont), Wabhi Kazri (Saint Ettiene), Karl Toko Ekambi (Lyon), Bamba Dieng (Marseille) and Achraf Hakimi (PSG) are all delight to watch. The French Ligue has always been a very good league for African footballers.
This is Africa-Foot.com’s AFCON 2021 best 11
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Coach: Djamel Belmadi
Goalkeeper
Name: Edouard Mendy
Club: Chelsea
Age: 29
Country: Senegal 🇸🇳
Caps: 16
The Chelsea keeper is a world-class goalkeeper and has been a great goalkeeper since joining The Blues from Rennes in September 2020. The UEFA goalkeeper of the year 2021 is one of the best keepers in the world. Mendy equalled the record for most clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League with 9 in the 2020/2021 season. He’s the undisputed number 1 for Chelsea ahead of Kepa.
The continent is blessed with fantastic keepers like Yassine Bono, Mohammed El Shanaawy, Andrea Onana and Rais M’bolhi but Mendy is our pick.
Right-back
Name: Achraf Hakimi
Club: Paris Saint Germain
Age: 23
Country: Morocco 🇲🇦
Caps: 41
Achraf Hakimi is a pacey right-back. He can also play left-back and right-wing back. The former Real Madrid, Dortmund and Inter Milan defender has 3 goals and 3 assist in 18 matches so far for PSG in Ligue 1.
PSG paid 💲67.9 million, potentially rising by 💲12 million in add-ons to Inter Milan for his services.
He can shoot with both feet and his link-up play is excellent. He also has incredible stamina, is very agile and is composed whenever with the ball.
Youcef Atal (Algeria), and Serge Aurier
(Cote d’Ivoire) are better at right-back but we pick Hakimi.
Left-back
Name: Ali Maaloul
Club: Al Ahly
Age: 31
Country: Tunisia 🇹🇳
Caps: 74
Al Ahly struck gold when they signed Ali Maaloul from CS Sfaxien in July 2016. The Sfax born is a fantastic defender. He was the top scorer (16 goals) in the Tunisian League Professional 1 in the 2015/16 season with CS Sfaxien.
He is deadly with set pieces: penalties and free kicks. He can score from 25 yards and cross the ball with pinpoint accuracy.
He has won CAF Champions League twice (2019-2020, 2020-2021) with Al Ahly. He has been selected twice by IFFHS (2020,2021) for the CAF team of the year.
Ramy Bensebaini ( Algeria), Adam Masina
(Watford) and Zaidi Sanusi (Porto) are all excellent but we prefer Maaloul.
Right Center back
Name: Kalidou Koulibaly
Club: Napoli
Age: 30
Country: Senegal 🇸🇳
Caps: 53
Born in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, the 30-year-old French-born Senegalese International is monstrous at the back. The 6 ft 2 in centre back is very heavy. He is blessed with enormous strength, timely tackling ability, wonderful awareness, incredible interceptions and heading accuracy. His short and long passes are delightful. The Napoli vice-captain will eye the trophy for Senegal and has been the best centre back on the continent for some years now. Koulibaly has played for Senegal since 2015 and a first AFCON trophy for Senegal will be the icing on the cake for him.
Left Center back
Name: Romain Saiss
Club: Wolverhampton Wanderers
Age: 31
Country: Morocco 🇲🇦
Caps: 53
Romain Saiss is representing Morocco for his 3rd AFCON, he was part of the Moroccan team in Russia in the 2018 World Cup. Born in France, he has been a regular for Wolverhampton Wanderers since joining them from Angers in 2016. Saiss has almost 400 senior appearances for club and country and has scored 24 goals for both since 2010.
He is very aggressive and has a high vertical jump. Romain Saiss can play in a back 4 or a back 3 successfully. He can also play as a midfielder. He is the captain of Morocco and he is expected to continue with his outstanding leadership qualities in Morocco.
Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast ), Nayef Aguerd (Morocco), Aissa Mandi (Algeria), Troost Ekong (Nigeria), Jerome Onguene (Cameroon), Eric Bailey (Ivory Coast) are all quality centre backs the continent can boast of. Our pick is Kalidou Koulibaly and Romain Saiss.
Central Midfielder defensive midfielders
This is where we got a selection dilemma, choosing the 2 central midfielders was a difficult job. The area on the pitch the continent is blessed with enough quality is undoubtedly midfield. Choosing just two from Franck Kessie, Ismael Bennacer, Wilfred Ndidi, Yves Bissouma, Andre Zambo Anguissa, Thomas Partey and Iddrisa Gana Gueye, just to mention a few is not an easy task. Thankfully, we settled on Kessie and Iddrisa Gana Gueye.
Name: Franck Kessie
Club: AC Milan
Age: 25
Country: Ivory Coast 🇨🇮
Caps: 51
Franck Kessie is a powerful box-to-box midfielder. The 25-year-old year has thrived and still thriving since joining Milan from Atalanta in 2017. The versatile midfielder can play as a central midfielder,
a defensive midfielder and an attacking midfielder. He is the mainstay of Milan’s midfield and expectation is high on him to deliver for his country. Kessie can score, safeguard his defence and create chances as well. He has played for Ivory Coast U17, U20, Olympic team and is one of the players Ivorians will expect a lot from.
Name: Idrissa Gana Gueye
Club: Paris SG
Age: 32
Country: Senegal 🇸🇳
Caps: 84
Idrissa Gueye is a terrific defensive midfielder. Blessed with immense stamina and incredible interceptions ability, Gana Gueye is a cog in Mauricio Pochettino’s Paris SG’s midfield. He has a wonderful balance and his tackles are very good. He is the most capped player (84) and also the longest-serving member of the Senegal squad since 2011. The former Aston Villa and Everton midfielder has made 20 appearances (Ligue 1, 15), UEFA Champions League (5) so far this season. He is expected to be the fulcrum in Senegal’s midfield.
Left-Wing:
Name: Mohamed Salah
Club: Liverpool
Age: 29
Country: Egypt 🇪🇬
Caps: 73
Eleven years of experience in international football, Mohamed Salah is not only The Egyptian King but also the king of Anfield. He is enjoying a stellar campaign in Europe and Egyptians will hope he will replicate his wonderful form to the national team. The 2017 and 2018 African footballer of the year has won Premier League golden boot on two occasions ( 2017-18, 2018-19). He is a decorated footballer and will relish the opportunity to win the AFCON and cement his all-time best Egyptian footballer status. He has scored a mind-blowing 16 Premier League goals and has contributed 9 good assists. On the left-wing, choosing Salah was the easiest job. Words can not describe the indescribable Mohamed Salah. He is simply the best now.
Right Wing.
Name: Sadio Mane
Club: Liverpool
Age: 29
Country: Senegal 🇸🇳
Caps: 80
Sadio Mane has been manning Liverpool’s left-wing since joining The Reds from Southampton in 2016. The former Metz and Red Bull Salzburg forward is an archetype of the new-style winger who is always a constant menace for defence. The 29-year-old winger is blessed with pace, impeccable agility and balance. He can shoot with both feet and can create as well. Mane has been a regular for Senegal since making his debut in 2012, winning 80 caps. He is just 3 goals behind Henri Camara’s 29 to equal the record for all-time top scorer for Senegal.
Expectations on Sadio Mane is huge to lead the Lions of Teranga to lift the ultimate. He is a wonderful talent and on the left-wing, we chose him.
Attacking midfielder
Name: Riyad Mahrez
Club: Manchester City
Age: 30
Country: Algeria 🇩🇿
Caps: 70
Riyad Mahrez, a talented winger who has been a thorn in every defender he has faced since his Leicester City days flesh. He is a wonderful dribbler, very agile and has a great balance. He helped Algeria lift the trophy in Cameroon in 2019 and will eye another one. Riyad Mahrez is enjoying a stellar campaign with Machester City so far: scoring 13 goals in all competitions.
Born in France, he has represented Algeria since 2014 and has won 70 caps. The 2016 CAF African footballer of the year is still a threat and can change games and win games on his own. In our attacking midfield, he has been chosen to serve as our playmaker.
Striker
Name: Sebastian Haller
Club: Ajax
Age: 27
Country: Ivory Coast 🇨🇮
Caps: 8
Haller had a horrible moment in London, his days were marked with disappointment, doubt and failure. He is reborn now in Amsterdam and is scoring for fun. The leading top scorer of the UCL (10 goals), Haller is arguably the best striker on the continent. His positioning, strength, heading accuracy is incredible. Standing 6 ft 3 in tall, his strength and jumping are not a surprise. Former France U16, 17,18,19,20,21 forward’s link-up play is excellent. Ivory Coast expects him to lead them to win the competition for the 3rd time. He is our main striker for the AFCON.
Reserves:
Yassine Bono (GK) 🇲🇦,
Edmund Tapsoba 🇧🇫 (DF), Odilon Kossouno 🇨🇮 (DF), Ismael Benacer 🇩🇿 (CM), Wilfred India 🇳🇬 (DM), Thomas Partey 🇬🇭 (CM), Wilfred Zaha 🇨🇮 (AM), Taiwo Awoniyi 🇳🇬 (ST), Vincent Aboubakar 🇨🇲 (ST)
