Forwards: Big names and players to watch at AFCON 2023
We’ve made it to the final piece of this four-part series focusing on the biggest names and rising stars at this year’s edition of AFCON. The three ‘big dog’ players will come as no surprise. It speaks volumes to the star-power African teams have up front that there’s no room for the likes of Riyad Mahrez here. Now let’s take a closer look at the six forwards who made our list.
Big names
Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
What more needs to be said about Liverpool’s star winger Mohamed Salah? If Egypt goes on to win their first AFCON in 14 years, it will be because of this man. Salah leaves Liverpool top of the Premier League after a red-hot start to the season. He’s already notched 14 goals and eight assists in the league. Additionally, he has four goals and two assists in his last three games for Egypt.
Salah after the AFCON 2021 final
The only cause for concern is his much talked about penalty struggles of late. Salah has missed five of his last 13 penalties for club and country. That’s a 62% conversion rate over the last year. Penalties are often important in tournament football, but only time will tell if these stats continue to haunt him.
This will be his fourth AFCON – a performance record that includes starting all 17 of Egypt’s games, six goals, three assists, and, painfully, two runner-up finishes. Salah has won every trophy he could feasibly win except this one – the motivation has never been higher for Egypt and Salah to bring home a record eighth AFCON title.
Sadio Mané (Senegal)
Another man who needs no introduction, Sadio Mané. The defending champion scored three and assisted two in the 2021 tournament. Since then, he’s left Liverpool, endured a challenging season with Bayern Munich, and is now returning to form with Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
Mané sits on 12 goals and 6 assists in 26 games for his new team. He’s also scored three in three games for Senegal coming into the tournament.
Most will remember the redemptive arc of Mané’s AFCON 2021 final. After having his first half penalty saved, he eventually slotted home the winning penalty in the shootout.
Mané’s work-rate and creative ability are game changers for Senegal. The team’s ability to defend their trophy is, in many ways, reliant on Mané’s performance.
Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)
The youngest of these three stars at 25, Victor Osimhen won African Footballer of the Year at December’s CAF Awards, won Serie A with Napoli, and became the first African to earn top goalscorer in Serie A. All in 2023.
Osimhen after winning the Men’s Player of the Year at the 2023 CAF Awards
Osimhen scored five in three games for Nigeria earlier this year, although a hamstring injury kept him out of commission for the country’s final three games before heading to the Ivory Coast. He was the top goalscorer in AFCON qualification, netting ten, with the next highest goalscorers reaching only half that total.
Nigeria needs his qualification form to continue, especially after the news came out earlier this week that fellow forward Victor Boniface would miss the tournament due to injury.
Players to watch
Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast)
The host nation has plenty of firepower and established names up top, but Simon Adingra is the future for the Ivory Coast. He is yet another diamond in the rough recruited by Brighton & Hove Albion who is catching fans’ eyes. The 22-year-old winger already has four goals in his first Premier League season, including early goals against Liverpool and Sheffield United and a header against Burnley that rescued a point for the Seagulls.
Adingra scoring for Brighton against Burnley
His increased game time at Brighton led to increasingly impressive and consistent performances before a hamstring injury kept him off the pitch for the past two weeks. Because of this, Adingra missed Ivory Coast’s friendly against Sierra Leone on the 6th of January. The clock is ticking to return to fitness, but when fit, he will be a superb option off the bench for this tournament and a core player for his country for years to come.
Peter Shalulile (Namibia)
While not a ‘rising star,’ Peter Shalulile is likely not a household name for most in the UK. At the age of 30, he has spent his entire professional career in Namibian and South African leagues, made his international debut nine years ago, and this is only his second AFCON with Namibia only having qualified twice since his career began.
He is also a goalscoring machine.
Shalulile is Namibia’s all time top goalscorer. He’s the two-time reigning top goalscorer in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League.
On top of his impressive domestic statistics, he has six goals in his last seven games for Namibia. If Namibia can shock the world and find a way out of a group with Tunisia, Mali, and South Africa, it will likely be down to Shalulile’s creativity and finishing ability.
Lameck Banda (Zambia)
The left winger Lameck Banda is the youngest of the only four forwards selected for Zambia’s squad. Manager Avram Grant is putting a lot of faith in the Lecce playmaker to step up, show consistency, and create a splash at his first major tournament.
This season, Banda has two goals and four assists in 13 league games. On the flip side, he’s been shown three yellows and one red card. There’s still plenty of room for growth, including becoming more clinical in front of goal and improving his discipline, but he has offered many glimpses of greatness. At only 22, Banda has already played professionally in Zambia, Russia, Israel, and now Italy.
Though lacking in goals, it’s his dribbling and assisting abilities that could make him an important cog in this Zambia side.
The biggest names and players to watch at each position have now all received their spotlight, which means we’re only three days away from the start of AFCON 2023. Stay tuned for much more as the Sports Gazette continues its coverage of the biggest and best in African football.
Check out the other pieces of this series below:
