January 22, (THEWILL) – Following the end of the group stage of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football has named the best eleven performers in each position.
William Troost-Ekong (Watford) and Moses Simon (Nantes) are two Nigerian stars who have joined nine other African stars in the ideal starting lineup.
Troost-Ekong played the full 90 minutes in every game the Super Eagles played in the group stage, scoring the game-winning goal against Guinea-Bissau, while Simon appeared in three games registering one goal and one assist (1 goal, 1 assist).
Although midfield enforcer Wilfred Ndidi did not make the starting lineup of the Best XI, the Leicester City midfielder was named to a strong bench that includes Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane of Liverpool.
Ghislain Konan (Stade de Reims), Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly) and Ahmed Hegazy (Al-Ittihad Jeddah), Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain) and his teammate Sofiane Boufal (SCO Angers) were also in the starting lineup.
Naby Keita (Guinea/Liverpool), Yves Bissouma (Mali/Brighton & Hove), Musa Barrow (Gambia/Bologna), and Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon/Al-Nassr) round out the best XI.
Troost-Ekong was used as a center-back, while Simon was used as a left winger in a 4-3-3 system that caretaker manager Augustine Eguavoen adopted for the competition and which has so far worked sparklingly.
Following the outstanding performance of the Super Eagles so far, CAF has named Eguavoen the winner of the group stage best manager award. In just a few weeks, the Sapele-born coach transformed a boring, laid-back Super Eagles into a defensively well-organised and aggressively attacking machine.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
