{"id":59234,"date":"2024-01-09T17:24:39","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon"},"modified":"2024-01-09T17:41:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:41:39","slug":"six-players-to-watch-at-afcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon","title":{"rendered":"Six players to watch at Afcon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) looms large with the tournament set to start on Saturday with hosts Ivory Coast taking on Guinea-Bissau at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara.<\/p>\n

As anticipation mounts, TimesLIVE takes a look at some of the players likely to grab the headlines as national teams seek to dethrone the Teranga Lions of Senegal. Here are our six picks:<\/p>\n

Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)<\/p>\n

He is without a doubt one of the African shining stars on the world stage as a lethal finisher for his Italian club Napoli and there will be massive pressure on his shoulders from millions of Nigerians as they seek their first title since 2013 in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

The current African Footballer of the Year comes into this tournament with confidence after he inspired Napoli to Serie A triumph last season where he scored 26 goals to earn a reputation as one of the best strikers in the world.<\/p>\n

Sadio Mane\u0301 (Senegal)<\/p>\n

Mane\u0301 was the best player of the tournament the last time around where he missed a penalty and went on to score decisive one during the shoot-outs as Senegal registered their first Afcon triumph.<\/p>\n

He comes to the tournament with good form that he has gained at his Saudi club Al-Nassr, where he is teammates with Cristiano Ronaldo, and has already scored 12 goals after he joined them from an unhappy spell with German giants Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah (Egypt)<\/p>\n

Egypt have not won Afcon since Salah was a teenager in 2010 as they fell agonisingly short in the 2017 and 2021 finals and he will be out for revenge as the Pharaohs will be looking for a record-extending eighth title.<\/p>\n

He suffered agony when Egypt lost to Senegal in penalty shoot-out two years ago when his then Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane converted the winning spot-kick.<\/p>\n

He will be eager to avoid a repeat and his current form for Liverpool suggests the 31-year-old will be a danger in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

Se\u0301bastien Haller (Ivory Coast)<\/p>\n

Playing in his second Afcon, Haller is a striker with pedigree who will be hoping for a good outing in front of his home support as the Elephants will be looking for their third continental title.<\/p>\n

At 29, the Borussia Dortmund man who survived testicular cancer, has reached maturity and intends to make a big impact at Africa\u2019s biggest football spectacle in front of expectant fans.<\/p>\n

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)<\/p>\n

Like some other top African players such as Sadio Mane\u0301, he moved from Europe to the Saudi Pro League in the summer where he is now playing for Al-Ahli alongside former Liverpool and Barcelona attackers Roberto Firmino and Franck Kessie respectively.<\/p>\n

Mahrez continues to lead Algeria and with him on the pitch in the Ivory Coast, the Desert Warriors will always fancy their chances as they have assembled one of the best teams in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)<\/p>\n

Achraf Hakimi was a towering figure when Morocco become the first African nation to reach the semifinals of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and the PSG right-back will once again be key for the Atlas Lions.<\/p>\n

They are faced with a task of translating that success back onto the continental stage as they look to register Morocco’s second Afcon success since 1976.<\/p>\n

Their most recent final appearance was in 2004 when they lost to Tunisia.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) looms large with the tournament set to start on Saturday with hosts Ivory Coast taking on Guinea-Bissau at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara. As anticipation mounts, TimesLIVE takes a look at some of the players likely to grab the headlines as national teams seek to dethrone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":59232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-59234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSix players to watch at Afcon - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) looms large with the tournament set to start on Saturday with hosts Ivory Coast taking ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six players to watch at Afcon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) looms large with the tournament set to start on Saturday with hosts Ivory Coast taking ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T17:24:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T17:41:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1704809351.490391.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Six players to watch at Afcon\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-09T17:24:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-09T17:41:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/01\/sm_1704809351.490391.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/six-players-to-watch-at-afcon\",\"name\":\"Six players to watch at Afcon - 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