AFCON 2019: Mikel Among Three World-class Players Who Could Have Done Better In Egypt

Africa's greatest football fiesta, AFCON 2019, took centre stage on the 21st of last month and it's set to end on Friday.

The continent has witnessed one month of great football skills, awesome goals, breathtaking saves, the rise of underdogs and disappointment from many highly-rated stars.

AFCON Debutants Madagascar were arguably the surprise team of the competition as they negotiated their way through to quarterfinal round of the competition before losing to Tunisia who were defeated by Senegal in the  semi-final.

The most surprising part of this year's tournament is the inability of many top-rated stars to live up to expectations.

In this regard, allnigeriasoccer.com makes a comprehensive list of five world-class players who failed to make  much impact for their respective countries.

1. Mikel Obi

Many Nigerians were happy with his return to the Super Eagles after one year in international wilderness.

The Super Eagles supporters proposed that his presence will boost the team's quality at the middle of the park.

Unfortunately, Mikel's presence in the team wasn't really felt in most of the games played by the team as he was only good for the substitute bench.


2. Naby Keita

Being the only Premier League player in coach Paul Put's final squad, the Liverpool man is expected to be a source of inspiration to his teammates.

Many predicted a wonderful campaign for the former RB Leipzig midfielder but injury and loss of form drastically prevented the young man from leading his teammates to an appreciable round.

He didn't score a single goal before his participation in the tournament was cut short by injury.


3. Mohamed Salah

Though the Liverpool striker scored two beautiful goals in the competition, his overall performances left so much to be desired from a player of his caliber.

Considering the massive support from the home crowd, Salah and his teammates could have done better than being beaten by a  South Africa side in the round-16 stage.

Ibukun Italoye