Africa Sports News of Saturday, 5 February 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-02-05Senegal, Egypt not the best teams at 2021 AFCON – BBC's Nick Cavell
Egypt's Mohammed Salah(L) and Senegal's Sadio Mane(R)
Senegal make successive AFCON finals
Egypt beat Cameroon on penalties to qualify for final
AFCON finals set for February 6
Nick Cavell, a BBC Africa reporter covering the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, has opined that Senegal and Egypt are not the best teams
Read full articleat the tournament despite making it to the finals.
He opined that countries like Nigeria and Cameroon played more expansive and inspiring football despite missing out in the finals.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, Cavell, however, said the final which will see two Liverpool superstars, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah battle for glory for their respective countries will be one to savour.
"First of all, it’s not only premier league fans who will be hoping to enjoy Sadio Mane versus Salah. I think it’s everywhere almost globally, especially in Africa where they are probably the two biggest stars of the moment across the continent so that battle or those two coming up against each other is going to be something that everybody is going to enjoy," he said.
"Are they the best two teams in the tournament? No. I don’t think they have been the most consistent, I have seen some teams play better. For example, Nigeria in the group stages played very well and I think Cameroon probably have been the most consistent team they played many good games than anybody else but they came short to Egypt. I think Senegal struggled at the start because they were missing some key players, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Ismaila Sarr. I think those guys coming to the team have seen them gradually improve during the tournament...I think their game against Burkina Faso was their best so far."
He further explained that Egypt have not displayed superior and entertaining football in the tournament but have been resolute and to an extent efficient.
"For Egypt, they are not impressed in football styles and they have not played stylish football, nice football but they also get the job done when they needed the job done."
Senegal have qualified for their second consecutive AFCON final, beating Burkina Faso 3-1. Whereas Egypt are into their 10th final after edging host nation, Cameroon on penalties.
The match is set for Sunday, February 6, 2022, at the Stade Olembe with kick-off time set at 19:00 GMT.
Watch video below
Nick Cavell is a sports journalist covering the cup of Nations for BBC Sport
