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 African English First Division All Stars 
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:43 pm
Posts: 1534
African English First Division All Stars


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COACH:

NUNO Espírito Santo (born in :CAP: Cape Verde)

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GOALKEEPERS:

:SOU: Arthur RILEY
:ZIM: Bruce GROBBELAAR


DEFENDERS:

:CAM: LAUREN
:CAM: Joel MATIP
:COT: Kolo TOURÉ
:NIG: Joseph YOBO
:NIG: Celestine BABAYARO
:SOU: Lucas RADEBE
:SOU: Eddie STUART


MIDFIELDERS:

:COT: Yaya TOURÉ
:GHA: Michael ESSIEN
:KEN: Victor WANYAMA
:NIG: John Obi MIKEL
:NIG: Jay-Jay OKOCHA
:SEN: Cheikhou KOUYATÉ
:SOU: Steven PIENAAR


ATTACKERS:

:ALG: Riyad MAHREZ
:COT: Wilfried ZAHA
:COT: Didier DROGBA
:EGY: Mohamed SALAH
:GAB: Pierre-Emerick AUBAMEYANG
:SEN: Sadio MANÉ
:SOU: Gordon HODGSON



__________________________________________________________


RESERVES:


GOALKEEPERS:

:SEN: Édouard MENDY


DEFENDERS:

:CAM: Sébastien BASSONG
:CON: Christopher SAMBA
:COT: Emmanuel EBOUÉ
:COT: Serge AURIER


MIDFIELDERS:

:COT: Cheik TIOTÉ
:NIG: Victor MOSES
:NIG: Wilfred NDIDI
:SEN: Idrissa GUEYE


ATTACKERS:

:GHA: Tony YEBOAH
:NIG: Nwankwo KANU
:SOU: Berry NIEUWENHUYS
:TOG: Emmanuel ADEBAYOR




THE BEST EVER XI

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GK GROBBELAAR
CB RADEBE ©
CB K. TOURÉ
RB LAUREN
LB BABAYARO
DMF ESSIEN
CMF Y. TOURÉ
RWF SALAH
LWF MANÉ
SS HODGSON
CF DROGBA

Captain: Lucas Radebe | Didier Drogba
Short Free Kick: Yaya Touré | Didier Drogba
Long Free Kick: Yaya Touré
Left Corner: Yaya Touré
Right Corner: Yaya Touré
Penalty: Mohamed Salah


Sun Apr 30, 2023 2:39 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 4:28 am
Posts: 4289
I believe the English First Division had more African players with solid spells. Some names for the reserves are Eddie Firmani, Stuart Leary, Eddie Stuart, maybe Peter Ndlovu, Benni McCarthy, Abdoulaye Doucouré, El Hadji Diouf, Shola Ameobi, Yakubu, Alex Song, Jordan Ayew. The may not be on the same level of the players in the first team, but just to fill the reserves.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 3:07 pm
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:43 pm
Posts: 1534
I wanted to keep the formats the same, but you could expand this one for sure. The problem is that there are plenty of forwards for the reserves, but the defenders and even midfielders would be a much lower quality, you'd be getting into players with less than 50 appearances.

I did forget about Eddie Stuart and Stuart Leary, Eddie Stuart can definitely enter the first team ahead of Aurier and probably starting XI ahead of Lauren (don't know about this one, Lauren was a strong member of the invincible Arsenal team). Stuart Leary spent most of his time in the second division, he did score 76 goals in the first division though so he's certainly a candidate. I picked Yeboah over others that played more because he was exceptional in the short time he was here and is one of the most iconic Africans in English football. But there's definitely others that had longer careers in England.

I initially had Eddie Firmani in the reserves but I decided against him because he capped for Italy and not for South Africa. So I decided to keep the qualifications the same. If he had capped for South Africa like Hodgson did (who also played for England), I certainly would have included him. I also considered Craig Johnston to be Australian, since he was raised there by two Australian parents, despite being born in South Africa.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:08 pm
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Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:38 pm
Posts: 2475
Gana was certainly better than both Mikel and Wanyama, there's no way that he can be in the reserves because he played "only" for Everton.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:27 pm
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Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:26 am
Posts: 3362
Location: Aragua De Barcelona, Venezuela
I wouldn't consider Yaya Touré as corner taker at all, he's tall and a physical imposing (with a relative decent aerial threat) person, it would be basically like Kane taking corners for England at the 2016 Euro just because he's the playmaker on the starting eleven.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:36 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 4:28 am
Posts: 4289
StuartBannigan wrote:
I initially had Eddie Firmani in the reserves but I decided against him because he capped for Italy and not for South Africa. So I decided to keep the qualifications the same. If he had capped for South Africa like Hodgson did (who also played for England), I certainly would have included him.

I thought that was the reason. Take in mind though that Firmani played in the First Division as a South African player.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:59 pm
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:43 pm
Posts: 1534
IMO Wanyama's best three seasons were just as good as Gana's, he was a rock before the injuries hit. And I think Wanyama was a more complete player, Gana is very limited although good at what he does, which is just winning the ball back and nothing else.

I don't think Mikel was a worse player either, he just sacrificed himself to play a squad role at Chelsea. He was a really quite talented player, who was forced into defensive positions because Chelsea had Lampard and Ballack in front of him. And while you could never say he was a very important player for Chelsea, he certainly played a part in their success, and at his peak he was a good and consistent player. He also has almost twice as many PL games as Gana. To be honest, Gana is/was a good player but I don't think he would ever be able to play almost 400 games for a top club like Mikel did. Even in an easier league with PSG he didn't have what it takes, he's just too limited with the ball.

Yaya is on the corners because he's the best long passer there, to be honest I don't really pay attention to set piece takers, in game I just put whoever the game tells me to and I put them on both sides. Same thing with left and right sided CBs, I don't really care much. Salah takes corners for Liverpool sometimes, you can choose him I guess.


Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:07 pm
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