Reporter Han Bing reported that Senegal won the African Cup of Nations for the first time, and the expensive Mane was elected the best player of the tournament and became the protagonist in the spotlight. But goalkeeper Mendy, who was barely known in Ligue 1 two years ago, is also one of the decisive figures for Senegal to win the cup. In the final, Egypt was rejected with two penalties, and the credit was great. Some African media even believe that the best player award of this African Cup of Nations should be given to Mendy, who has conceded only 2 goals in 7 games and has staged god-level saves many times.
Mendy competed in the 2019 and 2022 Africa Cup of Nations twice, with the difference that in 2019 he played just two group games as a starting goalkeeper and was replaced by substitute goalkeeper Gomi after losing 1-0 to Algeria. This time, it was substitute goalkeeper Dion who temporarily toped the shift, and Mendy, who was infected with the new crown virus, returned to the starting lineup for the third game. However, Mendy's performance was very stable, especially in the final against the strongest opponent Egypt, the extra time to resolve the opponent's must-score, coupled with the penalty power to refuse two penalties, to give Mane the opportunity to finally kill.
In the past year, Mendy has won the Champions League and The European Super League with Chelsea, plus the African Cup of Nations, and has also won the Champions League and The African Cup of Nations Best Goalkeeper titles, and of course, has also been shortlisted for the best team in both competitions. Moreover, Chelsea are competing in the Club World Cup, and Mendy has returned from the line of fire before the semi-final of the Club World Cup between Chelsea and Riyadh Crescent. If Chelsea win the title, he will have a chance to compete with Liverpool for the League Cup title when he returns to England. Mendy will win 5 titles in 10 months, making him one of the best goalkeepers in the squad.
In 2021, he has won the title of FIFA Men's Goalkeeper of the Year and is the first African player to be shortlisted for the third division and win the award since the award was established. Winning the Africa Cup of Nations is the pinnacle of life's counterattack for Mendy: "Hard work, persistence, sacrifice, faith and hope, and love and support from the team, staff, teammates, family and fans." I couldn't have done it without that, and we won the trophy together, not myself. After the game, Mendy said on his personal account on Instagram.
It's hard to imagine that less than 5 years ago he could only commit to the French 4th Division, or even only one appearance in the whole season, which is a goalkeeper who is almost unemployed. Earlier, in 2014, Mendy had been unemployed for more than a year after being sacked by France's 4th-tier Cherbourg. But none of these difficulties brought him to his knees, he continued to look for trial opportunities, constantly trying to play the main force, and finally in the summer of 2020 was bought by Chelsea for 24 million euros, and then replaced the Spanish goalkeeper Kepa, who was worth up to 80 million euros, to become the main goalkeeper of the Blues, and won the Champions League trophy with the team.
It is difficult for Africa to cultivate world-class goalkeepers, mendy's previous impressive African goalkeepers are only Cameroon's Ncono, Carmeni and Onana, Mendy has become Africa's first main goalkeeper to win the Champions League, and how many achievements will be in the future are worth looking forward to.