In the early morning of January 12, Beijing time, the African Cup of Nations group stage ended two more focus matches, of which the two top champions Algeria and Egypt did not win, the former drew 0-0, while the latter lost 0-1. For the two major Premier League stars, Mahrez and Salah, the early morning game was very unsatisfactory.
As the champions of the last African Cup of Nations, Algeria have maintained an unbeaten run of 35 games before the match, and in the just-concluded Arabian Cup, they successfully won the title. However, in the early hours of the morning game, they faced Sierra Leone, ranked 108th in the world, and shot 19 times on goal, but did not score any goals.
In the post-match interview, Sierra Leone goalkeeper Mohammed Kamala burst into tears, and he was the main contributor to the team's draw with the defending champions. In the 90 minutes of the game, he contributed 7 saves to become the best in the game and the key to the team's miracle.
Although Algeria failed to make a good start, the team's number one star, Mahrez, still had a good performance in the early morning. Throughout the game, Mahrez played 90 minutes, created 5 excellent opportunities, and scored a high score. Although it failed to make a start, Algeria, which owns Mahrez, is undoubtedly the favorite to win the African Cup of Nations.
Egypt's early morning match was even more unsatisfactory compared to Algeria's early morning draw, with they losing 1-0 to nigeria, the group's number one rival. Losing this match, although it will have little impact on Egypt's promotion, will inevitably be related to the future knockout matchups.
Losing to Nigeria was not too unexpected. After all, from the ranking point of view, Egypt is 45th, not as good as the opponent's 36th. But as we all know, Egypt is the country that has won the African Cup of Nations the most times, winning the cup seven times. And the last time they won the championship was in 2010.
You are an absolute superstar in the Premier League, and Salah, who is currently worth 100 million, has not yet won a trophy with the national team. This time on the Africa Cup of Nations tour, Salah risked infection, and the goal must be to win the championship.
However, in the early morning game, Salah, egypt's number one superstar, performed quite badly. In the whole game, Salah played a full 90 minutes, but only had a 5.5 lowest score of the game. Under the pressure of Nigeria, the Egyptian team can only move the defense, which makes Egypt play few effective attacks.
Salah's participation in the African Cup of Nations has had a great impact on Liverpool, after all, the Egyptian is currently the top scorer in the Premier League. But if the Egyptian team is eliminated in the group stage, perhaps Uncle Scum will be very willing to see such a result.