- 3 months ago
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00:00Welcome back to another episode of 5 Aside on BN Sports.
00:21AFCON is right around the corner, so we have a lot to discuss today.
00:25First, we're going to do a quick round-robin to see who we think makes it out of each group.
00:28I want to go through some of the groups to get your guys' quick-fire takes on who we think will do the best in this tournament in the group stage.
00:35Moosey, Group A. Comoros, Mali, Morocco, and Zambia.
00:39I'm taking Morocco at 1 and Mali at 2.
00:42Gabe, Group B. Angola, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe.
00:47For this one, I'm going with Egypt in first place, South Africa in second.
00:52Angola, no.
00:53I think they'll qualify in the third place position, but I don't think they'll finish top two.
00:59But that's one of the groups of death, I think.
01:01That's a very competitive group, for sure.
01:03Absolutely.
01:03Group C. Kendrick.
01:05Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda.
01:10Nigeria.
01:11What?
01:14After the World Cup qualifiers, what do you think?
01:16Tunisia, number one.
01:17They went undefeated.
01:18They went undefeated in qualifiers.
01:19They had a great campaign.
01:22Did their thing.
01:23I think they conceded like one or two goals, if that.
01:27Nigeria, I think, will make it through, though.
01:29I think they'll go second.
01:30But I think they're going to have to scrap their way through.
01:32Interesting.
01:33This one's now for me.
01:34Benin, Botswana, DR Congo, and Senegal.
01:37This is a tough group.
01:39I think the Senegalese are...
01:41I think they've actually been underrated recently in terms of the discussions about African football.
01:45People have been talking about Nigeria.
01:47People have been talking about Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco.
01:50But Senegal, solid team.
01:52They're in their form.
01:53So I think Senegal easily makes out this group.
01:56And I think Congo follows them in second.
01:58Moose, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan.
02:04Yeah, I mean, Algeria won.
02:06And I'm going to take a sleeper pick.
02:08I'm going to take Sudan at two.
02:09The story is amazing.
02:10I think everything's just been going so well for them.
02:13I think Sudan can really shock the world on this one.
02:15Okay.
02:17And then Gabe, the big conversation.
02:18This is a crazy group.
02:19Group F, the last one.
02:22Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique.
02:25I need top two.
02:27I'm going Ivory Coast first.
02:29Okay.
02:30I think a really strong performance coming off of an incredible AFCON championship that they just won.
02:35I think they're going to go through first.
02:37Narrowly, second place.
02:39I'm going with your country of Cameroon.
02:42Second place for the team with two squads.
02:44But I think Gabon will qualify in third and still make it through.
02:48And Gabon could sneak the second.
02:50But I'm giving second place to the team with two squads.
02:52We're giving second place to the team in complete disarray.
02:55Two squads.
02:55They're going to make it work.
02:57Ivory Coast was in disarray.
02:58Look what happened.
02:59That's the magic of AFCON.
03:00They fired their coach in the group stage and won the tournament at home.
03:02What do you think?
03:03What do you think?
03:03I think Cameroon's coming in last.
03:05With Mozambique?
03:06Yeah.
03:07Don't say about Mozambique.
03:08Bro, their best goalkeeper.
03:12They left their best goalkeeper at home.
03:14They got four keepers in their team sheet.
03:17They left their best number nine at home.
03:20Debatable.
03:21And they're just in a state of disarray.
03:24Nah, listen.
03:24I got Ivory Coast first.
03:26I think y'all would be surprised, bro.
03:27That Ivory Coast squad is not as good as people think.
03:29All right, bro.
03:30I will say, no Pepe.
03:32They almost dropped off the tournament last year.
03:33No Pepe is huge.
03:34No Adenga either.
03:35That's crazy.
03:36Two of your best wingers.
03:37I'm honestly, I think, I don't think Gabon.
03:40I think Gabon won, Cameroon two.
03:41Gabon won.
03:43Cameroon with their sixth division Brazilian midfielder.
03:47Marked by words, Ivory Coast three in that group.
03:50Hey, that's what happened last time.
03:52And they went all the way.
03:52Very bad group stage.
03:54They were able to.
03:54So you never know.
03:55Hey, you ain't at home this time, though.
03:56Yeah, that's true.
03:57You ain't at home this time.
03:58Long way from home.
03:58Speaking about, yeah.
03:59Hey, speaking about home.
04:02Speaking about my home country.
04:03Oh, brother.
04:04Cameroon chaos.
04:06Yep.
04:06Two different squads named for AFCON.
04:08As manager refuses to be sacked.
04:12Call Samuel Eto'o narcissistic for axing striker and Andre Onana to keep his goal record.
04:18To clarify, that was a fantastic British headline for the Daily Mail.
04:21But to clarify, what has happened in Cameroon is that there have been two squad announcements.
04:24So two lists of players brought to the tournament.
04:26One announced by the Federation and one announced by the governmental sporting body that Eto'o leads.
04:33So Mark Brie, the former coach, and Eto'o.
04:35So there's interfeuding in the Cameroonian Federation.
04:39A new coach has been appointed by Eto'o.
04:42A new list has been given by Eto'o.
04:44On that list, Abubakar is not going.
04:46Onana is not going.
04:48Regardless, I still think we will do quite well in the tournament.
04:51We just need to find out who's going.
04:53Not sure yet.
04:54But like, actually, what is happening?
04:56Like, what's going to happen?
04:57Because the tournament starts in six days.
04:59Yes, correct.
04:59Actually, it'll be less days than that when this comes out.
05:02We have five days to figure it out.
05:03Well, so the controversy behind it is that FIFA prohibits any government intervention around national footballing matters.
05:14So because that Brie was brought on by the Ministry of Sport, they're saying, oh, your contract shouldn't be there.
05:20But Brie is saying that because I was appointed by the government until I get an official presidential decree, my contract is still here.
05:27And then Eto'o brings in the manager, David Pogo.
05:30He's relatively inexperienced.
05:31There's not really a lot of news on him.
05:33So that could be a plus side for him.
05:35There's not a lot of expectations, but it could be a downside.
05:37So I guess we're going to have to see.
05:38I mean, we dropped a fire jersey the other day.
05:41Beautiful jersey.
05:43What a way to go into a tournament.
05:45Yeah, what a way to go into the tournament.
05:47And either way, it's a bad look on Eto'.
05:49I mean, I'm not saying that it's his fault.
05:52But if you're the leader of the federation at this time when you don't qualify for the World Cup, you're having all these issues before another major tournament.
06:01The coach is calling you a narcissist.
06:03There's all these conspiracies about you, the players you're picking because you don't want them to beat your record and stuff.
06:11It's just not a good look.
06:12And I'm not saying it's his fault.
06:14I doubt that.
06:14But the way they're painting it right now, it's like unequivocally.
06:18The look is bad regardless.
06:19It looks bad.
06:20And it's unfortunate because he's one of our greats.
06:22Arguably the greatest African player of all time.
06:24I doubt that he's not breaking a bubacard because he doesn't want him to break his record.
06:26I agree.
06:27He's very far from it.
06:28It's still 12 goals away.
06:29It's very doubtful about an older bubacard can have done.
06:31I agree, but that's the painting that they're painting.
06:33That's the picture they're painting.
06:34I mean, it all goes away if they win.
06:36As long as Cameron wins, no one's going to talk about this.
06:38Five.
06:38Five of them, boys.
06:39It's going to be six.
06:40It's going to be six.
06:41No one more.
06:41Anyway, speaking of controversy, let's move a little bit north in Africa to Ivory Coast.
06:46Nicolas Pepe went on a stream with a French YouTuber, Jess Riyad, and he was kind of making jokes.
06:51It was a bit lighthearted.
06:52A little bit of head loss, in my opinion, I think, because as a public figure, you can't say some of the things that he said.
06:58Yep.
06:58But he was joking.
07:00French humor is different.
07:00But he was basically saying how his teammate LaFont, how he's not Ivorian, how he's not Ivorian, he just has the passport, blah, blah, blah.
07:10The federation came down very strongly on him and said, listen, we can't accept this.
07:14You can't come.
07:15Nicolas Pepe is probably the best Ivorian player, actually, right now.
07:18Yeah.
07:18With the likes of maybe Frank Cassie and...
07:22Ahmad?
07:23Ahmad, yeah.
07:24Best offensive player on the team.
07:25He's up there.
07:26He's top three, top four.
07:27Yeah.
07:27No, of course.
07:29But, yeah, it's harsh.
07:32But at the same time, we're going to sit here on this show and talk about how we need to have African unity.
07:35We need to support our players.
07:36When someone picks a federation, you have to support that.
07:40Pepe can't be going around talking about how LaFont just has the passport.
07:43Yeah.
07:43But what do you guys think?
07:45I just think it's such a shame, man.
07:47You're in the form of your life.
07:48You're doing super well with Villarreal.
07:50They're top three in La Liga.
07:51You are La Liga Player of the Month in a league that has Mbappe and Laminya Mall.
07:56Just why?
07:57Why?
07:57Like, you could have just not said that.
07:59You think that's the reason he's not going?
08:00That's what they said.
08:01Yeah.
08:01Who?
08:02The Ivorian Federation.
08:03Whatever the reasons are.
08:04I don't think that's true.
08:05I don't think that's true.
08:06Yeah.
08:07I think that's what they're saying.
08:08Whatever the reasons are, it's not football related.
08:11Bro, you're not bringing one of the best players on your team.
08:14Okay, but how could it be football related with the way he's been playing?
08:17No, I think it's something else.
08:18But I'm saying regardless, the fact that it's a personal thing is like, it's just a shame that it has to be that for him.
08:23That's what I'm saying.
08:23Well, but think about it, if they do bring Pepe and he made those comments, does that change how the locker room dynamic is?
08:28Do they maybe like, no, you, if he says, if you, if you, if I'm being questioned, if I'm in question saying, oh, I'm not ivory.
08:35You know, I don't represent this nation.
08:37Like, bro, I'm, I'm here.
08:38I'm here at AFCON.
08:40So I, you know, maybe, maybe tactically they're like, he doesn't, he might mess up the locker room.
08:45Either way, it's good that there's a, there's a sense of accountability.
08:47We'll see if it back, you know, comes backfire.
08:49But listen, we've seen talented locker rooms become complete disasters.
08:52France, the 2010 World Cup coming out of the group stage.
08:55Yeah.
08:56They had all the talent, but with the locker room was so dookie.
09:00Anyways, speaking about players and, and the, the size of this tournament, some going, some not.
09:07I want to ask you guys about how you feel about this tournament.
09:09I think it's definitely the biggest AFCON ever.
09:12And it's the highest level maybe we've seen of African football because Morocco is coming fresh off of the semifinals in the 2022 World Cup.
09:20And they're now being seen as a legitimate football global powerhouse.
09:23People are questioning if they're going to win a group with Brazil.
09:26That's insane.
09:27And the fact that they're hosting this AFCON as a favorites with Hakimi this season, he just had with PSG.
09:32And it's the whole momentum of that country, their infrastructure, everything.
09:36I think they're just such a perfect host for it right now.
09:38And to me, it just feels like the biggest AFCON.
09:39To see like the whole of the diaspora kind of like be excited about the tournament and show interest and like be traveling to Morocco to go to the game.
09:48Cannot wait.
09:48It's really dope for me to see this, the diaspora unite in that way.
09:51Speaking of which guys, I wanted to ask you guys, what player you most want to do well?
09:56Is there someone in your heart that you're like, oh, I really wanted to have a good AFCON?
09:59For me, I would say Mohamed Salah with Egypt.
10:03Okay.
10:03Especially with the comments that he just dealt with with Carragher, talking about how it's the most successful AFCON nation, but he's yet to win it.
10:10Which is definitely not Salah's fault when you look at the difference in talent that he's played with on that national team compared to the teams that won it before.
10:17If he were able to win that AFCON as like the crowning jewel of his career thus far, after everything he's done individually at the club level, now he has the lack of a partner with Marmouche with him too.
10:27I think Salah would be an incredible story, especially with the way that he started the season and all the kind of media pressure around him.
10:33And we already know what he means to his country.
10:35So to do that, I think would just be the perfect story.
10:37For me, Alien Manjaye.
10:39I think he's the quintessential African footballer.
10:42He has the skill, he has the flair, he has the tech, he's young.
10:45I think he's having a breakout season at Everton right now.
10:47And this AFCON could really be what kind of propels him to global stardom, gets him a big move somewhere else.
10:53But yeah, he really just represents everything that African football is about.
10:55And I really hope he has a great AFCON.
10:57And I hope Senegal goes all the way.
10:58What a par.
10:59Yeah, Moosey, you stole mine.
11:01And I hope that it does like get him a big move.
11:04He deserves it.
11:05Get him out of Everton.
11:06He deserves to be at a club like Chelsea, if I do say so.
11:10United, United.
11:11Everton started the season well, though.
11:13Yeah, it's true.
11:13They've had a much better start.
11:14But yeah, if I had to pick another one as a Chelsea fan, it's crazy.
11:18But I would say Amad Diallo.
11:19I think his career has been this peaks and valleys where he kind of just bursts onto the scene.
11:25He has a crazy last-minute goal for United.
11:28And he has these little moments.
11:30But I want to see him become a consistent star, a consistent person that you know is going to deliver.
11:36Like, game in and game out.
11:38And so, it would be dope to see him have a good AFCON.
11:40He has good talent.
11:41He has good talent.
11:42Just scored before he went off to AFCON, too.
11:44Big, big moment for him.
11:45It's a special talent, man.
11:47Guys, thank you, as always, for tuning in to 5Aside on BN Sports.
11:51The next time we'll see you, we'll be in Morocco.
11:54Sheesh.
11:54Bye, bye, bye.
11:55Let's get it.
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