AFCON Group Stage Best XI Super Eagles stars missing
Despite their high profile ratings, no Super Eagles star made AFCON Group Stage Best XI it has been revealed.
The 2023 AFCON group stage best XI was issued by football analytics website, Whoscored.com, a day after the conclusion of the tournament’s group stage campaign.
The players that competed in at least two of the competition’s group stage games made up Whoscored’s Best XI; on the shortlist were players from Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Morocco, Egypt, Angola, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Senegal, and Mauritania.
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Recall that Equatorial Guinea finished top of Group A with a better goal difference than the Super Eagles, who finished second with seven points.
Though the Super Eagles’ star-studded team didn’t lose a game and conceded just a goal in the three group stage games, none of the players was good enough for the AFCON group stage best XI.
Whoscored assigned the goalkeeping position to Equatorial Guinea’s Jesus Owono, who made ten saves throughout the three group stage games the Deportivo Alaves goalkeeper participated in.
After their debut game against the Super Eagles, the 22-year-old, who earned a 7.47 rating on the website, was selected man-of-the-match.
The Whoscored defence line is composed of Kialonda Gaspar of Angola, Logan Costa of Cape Verde, Ali Abdi of Tunisia, and Achraf Hakimi of Morocco.
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Hakim Ziyech (Morocco), Mohamed Kudus (Ghana), Lamine Camara (Senegal), and Abubakar Koita (Mauritania) featured in the midfield. While Emilio Nsue (Equatorial Guinea) and Mostafa Mohamed (Egypt) completed the Whoscored best XI of the 2023 AFCON group stage.
Some fans who spoke to Sportinglife.ng on the matter said the Eagles were actually lucky to have made it into the last 16 and expressed hope that the will cross the Cameroon hurdle on Saturday.