Izuchukwu Okosi
The official Best Eleven of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon has been released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) but there is no Nigerian player in the squad.
The Super Eagles were the best team of the group stages after winning all of their three matches with a combined six goals scored and one conceded.
However, their round of 16 exit after a 1-0 loss to Tunisia meant it would have been difficult for any of their players to be included in the team of the tournament.
Players like Moses Simon and Joe Aribo were some of Nigeria’s best players in the group stages, but it was not enough to earn them a spot.
The four semifinalists, with only Morocco, the only nation not to reach the semifinals having a representative, dominated the AFCON 2021 starting XI.
Champion, Senegal, has the most representatives (4), including golden glove winner, Edouard Mendy and the tournament’s Most Valuable player, Sadio Mane.
Following their penalty shootout victory over Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations final, Senegal are well represented in the Team of the Tournament.
Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, left-back Saliou Ciss, midfielder Nampalys Mendy, and Sadio Mane all feature in the best XI players, as named by CAF. Captain Kalidou Koulibaly and Famara Diedhiou were named among the substitutes as well.
There was no surprise to see Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah also named in the team, on the right of the defensive and attacking lines, respectively.
The rest of the team includes Mohamed Abdelmonem, Edmond Tapsoba, Mohamed Elneny, Ibrahim Blati Toure, and Vincent Aboubakar.
Youssouf M’Changama inclusion on the bench raised eyebrows after Comoros’ elimination in the last 16 albeit collectively the team impressed on their debut appearance.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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