Hosts contribute two players in AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 Best XI

* Defender Ghislan Konan and midfielder Jean Michael Seri, Bafana Bafana has goalkeeper Williams and midfielder Mokoena

* Equatorial Guinea’s marksman Emilio Nsue named as striker alongside Yoane Wissa (DR Congo) and Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)

By Duncan Mlanjira

New African champions, Côte d’Ivoire have three players named in the AFCON 2023 Best Xl — Ghislan Konan, Jean Michael Seri and Franck Kessie, whose goal in the final against Nigeria on Sunday helped the home side to secure the title.

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Released by the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) technical study group, line of defence in the Best XI is occupied by sensational South Africa’s Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, who won the Golden Glove accolade for his heroics at the tournament that included saving four penalty kicks in the quarterfinal match against Mali.

Williams’ defenders are Ola Aina (Nigeria), Ghislan Konan (Côte d’Ivoire), William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria) and Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo) while the midfield has South Africa’s Teboho Mokoena and Côte d’Ivoire’s Jean Michael Seri and Franck Kessie

The Golden Boot winner, Equatorial Guinea’s Emilio Nsue was named as lead for the striking force alongside Yoane Wissa (DR Congo) and Ademola Lookman (Nigeria).

Marksman Nsue


Nsue was also named in the Best XI of the group stages alongside Equatorial Guinea team mate Jesus Owono in goals and Moroccan duo of Achraf Hakimi & Nayef Aguerd, Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly & Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) in defence, the respectively.

The midfield had Morocco’s Azzedine Ounnahi & Sofyan Amrabat as well as Senegal’s Lamine Camara and Gelson Dala of Angola.

Golden Boot winner with five goals from the AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023, Emilio Nsue is expected to trouble the Malawi Flames’ defence in June when the two nations will meet in the FIFA World Cup 2026 African qualifiers.

Malawi and Equatorial Guinea are in same FIFA World Cup 2026 African qualifiers alongside Tunisia, Namibia, Liberia and São Tomé e Principe and the exploits of Nsue and his team should send some signals to Flames’ coach, Patrick Mabedi to strategise around this marksman.

Nsue’s attacking threat in Côte d’Ivoire kept defenders on their toes and he scored the tournament’s only hat-trick against Guinea Bissau and a brace against Cotê d’Ivoire in the 4-0 victory in the last round of group games.

Equatorial Guinea drew 1-1 with finalists Nigeria in group stages on their way to the Round of 16 where they lost against their neighbours Guinea in the Round of 16 — when Mohamed Bayo broke their hearts with just seconds left on the clock to snatch a late 1-0.

Emilio Nsue joins a list of elite goal scorers in the history of the AFCON, including Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon) and Nigerian Odion Ighalo in winning the Golden Boot. 

It was unimaginable that Equatorial Guinea would rout hosts Côte d’Ivoire with such a huge 4-0 victory but they did and the opponents’ results at the AFCON 2023 edition should send shivers to the Flames’ coach, Mabedi ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia tie on six points after registering two wins in Match Day 1 & 2 in November but Tunisia are at the top having a goal difference of 5 against Equatorial Guinea’s two.

Coach Mabedi

The Flames, who beat Liberia 1-0 away in Monrovia before losing 0-1 at home against Tunisia a few days later, tie on 3 points with Namibia but Namibia are on 2nd position on goal difference.

Equatorial Guinea first overcame Namibia 1-0 and Liberia also 1-0 while Tunisia first beat São Tomé e Principe 4-0 before beating the Flames — with Namibia seeing off Sao Tome e Principe 2-0.

Alongside Equatorial Guinea at the AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 were Tunisia and Namibia and they too need to be treaded carefully as they also most definitely have come out of it with guns blazing.

After June, the next qualifying matches for Flames’ Group H will be in 2025 (March, September, October and November).

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The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup tournament is through a complex qualification as the final — to be hosted jointly by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada — will have 48 participating countries instead of the conventional 32 giving an advantage for Africa to field more teams.

The top team from each group after Match Day 10 shall earn an automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup finals and additionally, the four best second-placed teams from all nine groups will engage in a continental playoff, determining a single victor who will then proceed to a second and final playoff. 

This final stage will comprise six teams from various confederations, with the top two emerging as qualified participants, ultimately making up the 48 competing teams.

The African qualifiers have Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti (Group A); Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan (Group B); Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho (Group C).

Group D has Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, Swaziland, Mauritius; Group E (Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea; Group F (Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles; Group G (Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia).

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