Yaya Toure and the Stars to Watch in AFCON Qualification This Week
Qualification for the 2015 African Cup of Nations continues on Wednesday with a whole selection of matches across the continent.
Largely, the opening round of games followed the form book, with victories for Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, South Africa and Algeria. However, continental giants Egypt were defeated by Senegal, Ghana could only muster a draw against Uganda at home and African champions Nigeria were dethroned at home by the Republic of Congo in particularly ignominious fashion.
These three fallen nations will be keen to bounce back, but, with a number of major sides facing each other in the mid-week qualifiers, it is no guarantee that they will succeed in getting their campaigns back on track.
In this feature, we look at five African stars to watch in the coming round of Afcon qualifiers.
John Obi Mikel
1 of 5
If defeat to Congo in Calabar was the nadir of Stephen Keshi’s reign as Nigeria manager, it surely must be the nadir of John Obi Mikel’s Super Eagles career as well.
At the 2013 Cup of Nations, the Chelsea man was influential as the West Africans won the cup. Similarly, at the 2013 Confederations Cup he demonstrated some of the technique and finesse that made him such a sought-after youngster.
However, ever since then, there has been precious little to write home about from a player who, now in his prime, should be an absolute giant of the continental game.
Andrew Randa of SuperSport described Mikel as Nigeria’s “weakest link” and, indeed, it’s not hard to agree. It’s unlikely that Keshi would drop the central midfielder—Mikel has missed only three matches (all friendlies) since the beginning of 2013.
However, if he does play, he will need to demonstrate that he can step up to the plate in the must-win clash against South Africa on Wednesday.
Yaya Toure
2 of 5
These are transitional times for the Ivory Coast. Didier Drogba and Didier Zokora have departed the international scene, Kolo Toure has not been called up and the likes of Romaric, Didier Ya Konan and Emmanuel Eboue are becoming ancient history.
The young players—with the exclusion of Serge Aurier—are yet to prove themselves entirely at this level, putting extra onus on Yaya Toure to take an even more influential role in the side.
Manager Herve Renard has handed the captain’s armband to the Manchester City midfielder, but against Sierra Leone, Toure didn’t contribute as emphatically as some of us have come to expect from him.
It was left to Gervinho and Seydou Doumbia to rise to the occasion, although, against Cameroon on Wednesday, in one of Africa’s genuine blockbuster clashes, the Elephants will look to their key man to make a decisive contribution or two.
Mohamed Salah
3 of 5
Chelsea forward Mohamed Salah bore the brunt of the criticism following Egypt’s dismal defeat to Senegal in their opening Group G match.
Dakar is not an easy place to go to, but the Pharaohs looked woefully short of dynamism, invention and cohesion. They conceded early, through Mame Biram Diouf, and never really looked like getting back into the contest.
A first-half Sadio Mane goal finished them off, although Salah was guilty of missing a few chances that could have turned the tide back in the North Africans’ favour.
In this, the post-Mohamed Aboutrika, post-Golden Generation era, Salah is the poster boy of Egyptian football. It is upon his youthful shoulders that the hopes of a football-mad (and success-hungry) nation rest.
However, the forward looked horribly short of match sharpness against Senegal—a result of his extended spell out of the team at Stamford Bridge—and will need to take the chances that come his way in a tempestuous regional derby with Tunisia in Cairo on Wednesday.
Kwadwo Asamoah
4 of 5
Kwesi Appiah continues to come in for criticism for his decision-making and tactical skills, per Citi Sports. Indeed, it’s hard not to point the finger at the manager—to a degree at least—following Ghana’s disappointing 1-1 home draw with Uganda.
However, the manager did appear to right one of the great wrongs of his campaign to date.
Previously, Appiah has seen fit to push Juventus’s Kwadwo Asamoah out to the left flank (often in the left-back position) in order to accommodate another of Ghana’s talented plethora of midfielders.
While there was logic behind this decision, and while Asamoah does play on the left for his club side, it robbed the Black Stars of one of their key creative influences. Ghana’s midfield was surely weaker for the absence of the former Udinese star.
Since the World Cup, however, following the emergence of Leicester City’s Jeffrey Schlupp at left-back, Appiah feels confident enough to play Asamoah in the midfield. This should mean that the Black Stars can boast energy and creativity in the heart of the park when they take on Togo in Lome on Wednesday.
Emmanuel Emenike
5 of 5
Ahead of the match with the Republic of Congo, Stephen Keshi dropped Emmanuel Emenike from the starting line-up to face South Africa. He replaced him with Uche Nwofor, a powerful forward who is currently without a club.
To say it was a gamble would be an understatement.
Emenike has recently been subject to reported interest from the likes of Chelsea, via Simon Jones of the Daily Mail, while Nwofor is currently without a club. The former VVV-Venlo man had never started a match before for the Super Eagles.
Keshi’s gamble backfired.
Nwofor’s presence encouraged the team to play too many long balls forward, the striker is a good finisher, but he offers little in the way of build-up skills and this made the Eagles far too one dimensional.
The Congolese defence had little trouble dealing with Nwofor, and he was replaced by Emenike early on.
The former Spartak Moscow forward will surely be recalled to the starting XI for the match with South Africa. Whether he features centrally or in a wider position, the forward knows how to trouble opposition defences with his pace and power.
Emenike hasn’t scored for Nigeria since the World Cup play-off first-leg victory away in Ethiopia but don’t be surprised to see the dynamic forward get back among the goals in Cape Town.
