Picking an African XI to Take on Europe and South America
Chris spent the weekend lining up a European XI and a South American XI, and that got me thinking about Africa. What would an African XI look like, and how would they fair against their European and South American counterparts? The standard of African football gets better every year. More and more African players are not only playing in Europe, but are dominant players on big teams in the biggest leagues. Africa may not have the same depth of talent as Europe or South America, but in a one-off game I’ll bet the continent could field a competitive team against either. My best guess at an African XI after the jump.
I don’t claim to be an expert on African football, and certainly my knowledge is biased by watching too much European football. But the best I can hope for is to put forward a team based on what I’ve seen, and hope someone out there with better knowledge can educate me. But here goes:
African XI
—————–Kameni—————
Eboue–Toure(K)–Yobo–Touwe—-
—————–Diarra—————–
———Essien———Appiah——–
—————-Aboutreika————
———Drogba—–Eto’o———
Goalkeeper: Carlos Kameni (Cameroon and Espanyol) gets the nod ahead of Essam El-Hadary (Egypt and El-Ahly,) mostly because he’s done the business in one of Europe’s toughest leagues. El-Hadary has had an impressive ten years at El-Ahly, who are almost certainly Africa’s biggest club but don’t face the same opposition that Kameni does in La Liga.
Defence: Emmanuel Eboué (Ivory Coast and Arsenal) and Hatem Trabelsi (Tunisia and Al-Hilal) are both powerful right-backs who love to burst forward. But Eboué gets the no. 2 shirt because Trabelsi struggled to find a team after being released by Manchester City this summer while Eboué has been featuring for the team that tops the Premier League right now (albeit as a right midfielder.) Taye Taiwo (Nigeria and Marseilles) not only has a brilliant name, he’s also a great young left back with a sweet left foot. Central defence is dominated by Kolo “Colossus” Touré (Ivory Coast and Arsenal) where he’s powerful in the air, strong in the tackle, reads the game well and is comfortable on the ball. What more could you ask for? The battle to partner Touré is won by Joseph Yobo (Nigeria and Everton,) who despite occasional lapses in concentration has all the same attributes as the Arsenal man.
Midfield: Looking at the options available, it seems there aren’t as many quality African wingers as there are central midfielders. So, I’m gambling that the best formation for an African XI is to pack it tight in the middle by using one dedicated defensive mid in Mahamadou Diarra (Mali and Real Madrid) with two action packed box-to-box center mids in Michael Essien (Ghana and Chelsea) and Stephen Appiah (Ghana and Fenerbahçe) and one creative type in Mohamed Aboutreika (Egypt and El-Ahly) to unpick defensive locks. Like fellow Egyptian Essam El-Hadary, Aboutreika has spent most of his career at El-Ahly, but this Africa XI needs a creative midfielder, so “the Egyptian Zidane” gets the nod. Unlucky to miss out in midfield were Kolo’s little brother Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast and Barcelona) and the sweet left foot of Sulley Muntari (Ghana and Portsmouth.)
Strikers: Plenty of goalscoring names to choose from here. There’s Fredi Kanoute (Mali and Seville,) Beni McCarthy (South Africa and Blackburn,) Obafemi Martins (Nigeria and Newcastle) and Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo and Arsenal.) But it’s very hard to look past a paring if Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast and Chelsea) and Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon and Barcelona.) Can you imagine the damage those two would do together?
So what do you think? Possibly my African XI leans too heavily on West African talent - Egypt are the current African Cup of Nations holders yet are only represented by one player - and certainly there’s a lack of width, but this is the team I’d send out to face Europe or South America. Could my team be improved? Are there any defenders I’ve missed out? And above all, how would this African XI, or an improved one, fare against Chris’s European and South American XI’s?
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Comments
By Inara | December 17th, 2007 at 9:44 pm 
Don’t forget Kader Keita of the Ivory Coast! He hasn’t settled in Lyon this season, but he’s great with the Ivory Coast and was terrific all of last year with Lille in L1 and their Champions League campaign. IMO, Keita should have been last year’s L1 MVP, not Malouda.
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United States
By RomaChris | December 18th, 2007 at 12:36 am Don’t listen to her, she’s got a bias towards anyone who plays in France, especially Lyon; he’s not displacing anyone in that XI.
That is one hell of a central midfield and strike partnership, and while the top drawer talent stacks up with any in the world, the quantity just isn’t there. It won’t usurp Europe or SA anytime soon, but I think every year the gap will edge closer as scouting casts its net a little farther and deeper.
And as far as the team goes, you could probably throw Essien n the back line to make way for a Toure or Muntari, or maybe even John Obi Mikel. I think I’d go with a 4-3-3, flanking Drogba with Eto’o and Salomon Kalou.
Kameni
Eboue, Toure, Essien, Taiwo
Appiah, Diarra, Yaya
Kalou, Drogba, Eto’o
By Inara | December 18th, 2007 at 9:41 am Hey, I never said Keita should start since he hasn’t really played this year. But he should be mentioned since he is, you know, the second best player on the Ivory Coast squad (as voted by…Ivory Coast!) and really was the best player in France last year.
Using Essien as a CB is such a waste. He is so much better as a midfielder that putting him in defense to get in another player isn’t worth it.
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By Sam | December 18th, 2007 at 3:32 pm That’s always the problem with African teams, eh? The keeper. Why can’t there be a REALLY good African keeper sometime this century? And as for Taiwo, he does have a beast of a left foot, but he has not been great this year, and makes mistakes all the time.
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Canada
By Ian | December 18th, 2007 at 5:46 pm I agree with Chris that I’d pick a three-striker formation, though I would be hard-pressed not to include Kanoute in that group. Granted, I’ve seen more of him than some of the others, but what I’ve seen has always been impressive. I’d probably put him in for Kalou and make it:
Kameni
Eboue, Toure, Yobo, Taiwo
Essien, Diara, Yaya
Kanoute, Drogba, Eto’o
By Massaer | December 18th, 2007 at 11:43 pm How can you forget Tony Silva of Lille when you mention great african keepers?
—————Silva—————-
Eboue—Kolo Touré—Yobo—Ben Frej
Essien—–Djila Diarra—Yaya Touré
————Chikhaoui—————
——Drogba———-Eto’o———
Honorable mentions to Bakary Koné, Elhadji Diouf, Mamdou Niang, Chermiti, Aboutrika, Chamakh, McCarthy, Kalou, Aruna Koné, Aruna Dindane.
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France
By Inara | December 19th, 2007 at 12:57 am Oh man, I forgot about Silva. He’s IMMENSE.
Also, you know what’s interesting? Most African and South Americans XI feature all Euro-based players.
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By Tomislav Chagall | December 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm okocha’s missing. that guy schools all of them, even now. he’s the original “meister”.
“Africa may not have the same depth of talent as Europe or South America”
to my mind, they have even more than the latter two, but as long as the infrastructure isn’t on par with europe and south america, the development of young players will suffer. would love to see the current u-17 team of nigeria (world champions) take it to the next level in ten years!
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Germany
By Luis | December 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pm Do you think we could make a North America XI to play South America’s XI?
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By thamer | January 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 pm …is that a joke
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By Tahar | January 19th, 2008 at 12:07 am big misses have to be sektioui who may be the most skilled african now. Also Pineaar has to be considered. If it werent so late I would have many more (its a huge continent) but im gonna rough draft this
Kameni
Eboue, Kolo, Haggui
Diarra, Essien, Keita
Sektioui, Chikhaoui
Eto’o, Kanoute
Only because Drogba can not play as well with another striker with him. I suppose hypothetically he would come on for Kanoute and etoo would drop to a left wing while Chikhaoui would become a withdrawn forward.
If were talking AFRICAN ORIGINS, then just copy paste the current french national team 
jk jk
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By Gemy | February 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm How could u ppl miss out the gr8 egyptian players who have won the african cup 2nd time in a row? Btw elhadary is by far the best goalkeeper in africa and there should be no hesitancy about this fact, as he is the best goalkeeper in africa 4 da 2nd time as well in a row. i also want 2 mention that all of u ppl are missing the best african player of the tournament who is hosny!!!!
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