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Just as the 2018 Fifa World Cup begins in Russia, the hopes of Africa’s five teams at the competition hang squarely on the performances of some key players.

Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco will be hanging a successful outing at the global soccer showpiece on the shoulders of some of their star players.

This piece looks at five key players (one each for the continent’s representatives in Vladimir Putin’s country) who will carry their nation’s hopes at the tournament.


https://www.concisenews.global/2018/06/14/5-african-stars-to-watch-out-for-at-2018-world-cup/

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Mohamed Salah

Following a sterling display in the Premier League during the last campaign, the former Chelsea man carries the burden of an Egyptian side that has not been at the World Cup since the 1990 edition in Italy.

He netted 32 goals in the English topflight league but is in race against time for his side’s first game on Friday with Uruguay.

Salah had picked up a shoulder injury during Liverpool’s 3-1 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid in May.

During the qualifiers, he helped the Pharaohs with 5 goals and two assists. In the game against DR Congo, the 25-year-old slammed home a 95th minute penalty to hand the Egyptians a ticket to the competition.

“Salah is the man behind our qualification to the World Cup,” Hazem Emam, who won the 1998 Nations Cup and 87 caps for Egypt, told BBC.

“When we qualified in 1990, it was more of a team effort. This time, Salah was the leader of the whole campaign.”

In fact, his home-town school had changed its name to Salah’s, just to honour the player.

Victor Moses

32 games. 11 goals. 27 years! Those are the figures for Victor Moses in Super Eagles colours.

The Chelsea man who had been in the football wilderness at club level until Antonio Conte gave him a lifeline during the 2016/2017 Premier League season, is perhaps, Nigeria’s greatest star going to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

He bagged three goals in four games for the three-time African champions during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Aside his attacking threat, Moses is also an asset defending as he plays as a wing-back for the Blues.

Since bursting onto the scene and winning the 2013 African Cup of Nations, the former England junior international brings talent, exposure and balance to the West Africans who are in Group D of the show with Argentina, Iceland and Croatia.

Nigeria’s gaffer Gernot Rohr affirmed this when he described the former Liverpool man as “world class” and the “most impressive player in my team.”

“He is a world-class player and you can rely on him any time and any moment he is playing,” said Rohr.

“He is the most impressive player in my team. He is fast and I hope he will not get injured before the World Cup in Russia. I have absolute confidence in him.”

Sadio Mane


In 2002, during their debut outing at the World Cup, it was El-Hadji Diouf that propelled the Lions of Teranga to the quarter-finals.

16 years later, and in their second outing, the hope of the nation (Senegal), lies on the shoulders of Sadio Mane who bagged 10 goals in the English Premier League and same number in the Champions League for Liverpool this past season.

He made his debut for the West Africans in 2012 and has since then netted 14 goals in 51 games.

“Poland, Japan, Colombia – that’s a tough group. But you have to believe in yourself and believe in what you are doing all the time,” Mane told the Daily Mirror.

“You try to do the job all ­together and hopefully we will qualify from the group. Honestly, personally, I don’t know the word ‘pressure’ ­because I enjoy my job all the time.

“The main man all the time is the Senegal team, which makes us really good.”

Wahbi Khazri

Tunisia will go to Russia with the confidence that Wahbi Khazri brings his A-game to play at the competition.

An attacking midfielder for French Ligue 1 side Rennes, Khazri was an outstanding bunch for the side during the 2017/18 term.

He was also instrumental to the Carthage Eagles’ return to the global event where he grabbed a goal against Mauritania in Round 2 of the qualification race and the winner against Libya in November, 2016.

Mehdi Benatia

The Juventus defender is the string that holds the defense for the Atlas Lions of Morocco.

A former Bayern Munich star, the experienced defender is one of the key players the North Africans are looking up to to power their World Cup dream.

During the last round of matches in Group C of the African World Cup qualifying series, Benatia, the skipper of the side, got a back-post finish from a corner kick against Ivory Coast (they won 2-0), to cement Morocco’s place in Russia.

Benatia who won the double last term with his Italian side, Juventus, played at the 2012, 2013 and 2017 editions of the African Cup of Nations for the North Americans.

At 31, the former Roma star has over 50 caps for Herve Renard’s charges after his debut on 19 November 2008 in a 3–0 friendly win over Zambia.

“We already know that it’s going to be difficult,” the defender said as his country prepares for their first World Cup finals since 1998.

“When you have the chance to participate in the World Cup, you want to play these kind of games, especially with Spain, which is the best team in the world […] It’s a pride and it’s a beautiful challenge.”

https://www.concisenews.global/2018/06/14/5-african-stars-to-watch-out-for-at-2018-world-cup/

Lala, MYND44, please help push this to the front page. Thank you!

Remove Moses there and replace with Iwobi. That young man has been at the centre of our most important moments lately. Besides his Jersey no18 seems to be the emblem of the team as a whole.

PurplePatch:
Remove Moses there and replace with Iwobi. That young man has been at the centre of our most important moments lately. Besides his Jersey no18 seems to be the emblem of the team as a whole.

Regardless of the budding talent in Iwobi, I don't think he's up there with the 5 best African players at the world cup. Iwobi needs consistency in his game for club and country to be rated among the best 5. Perhaps in the next tournament he will have become ready for that next level.

PurplePatch:
Remove Moses there and replace with Iwobi. That young man has been at the centre of our most important moments lately. Besides his Jersey no18 seems to be the emblem of the team as a whole.

While not doubting Iwobi's contributions to the team, he still has a lot of growing up to do and can't be pegged on the same page with Moses. The Chelsea man, irrespective of how we look at it, remains one of Nigeria's hopes going into the competition.