Africa Cup of Nations

This summer, Egypt was destination not just for tourists from all over the world, but also for football fans from whole Africa. Continental championship Africa Cup of Nations took a place here and Mohamed Salah was supposed to lead his homeland to the African throne. Although Salah scored 2 goals in 4 matches, the reality did not meet the expectations and Egypt left the tournament after the round of 16. His Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane did better and contributed with 3 goals and 1 assist in Senegal 7 matches long journey to the final. He also managed to miss 2 penalties during that period. It was Riyad Mahrez who lifted the trophy above his head in the end. The captain of Algeria scored 3 goals and was the key man for his country.

Jonathan Kodjia found the back of the net 2 times and assisted another goal in 5 matches. However, Aston Villa man probably won’t be a part of best XI of his team in the Premier League and very likely will find himself on the bench. Another Cote D’Ivorian Wilfried Zaha was equally effective with 2 goals and 1 assist from 5 matches, although he started only in 3 of them. Kodjia’s teammate from Aston Villa Ahmed Elmohamady registered 2 goals in Egypt jersey. Jordan Ajew scored 2 times in 4 matches, but he faces a strong competition for a forward spot in Crystal Palace line-up. Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye helped Senegal to reach the final with goal and assist, and Arsenal youngster Alex Iwobi ended up tournament with one goal.

Tournament finished three weeks before Premier League first round and many of these players are going to miss a part of pre-season of their clubs, what may influence their game time in first gameweeks.

Source: FlashScore