AFCON Qualified Teams/Eliminated "Bigs" [UPDATED]

[mystic]

Tanzania has one of the most in form African strikers at the moment. Hid name is Mbwana Samatts. He stated for Mazembe before moving to Genk or Ghent a few years ago. Think he’s hit 30 in all competitions for club this season.

He running rings around the Cranes. Great player!

[Thunder]

EII, et. Please helpme out here. I’ve been watching the 2019 ACN qualifiers since Friday & I noticed that almost all the games are played on synthetic surfaces designed for the tundra & cold regions. It begs the question, what can we manage if we can’t manage & maintain ordinary grass fields?

[Cmoke]

Link pls

Tanzania up 2-0

[Enugu II]

Link pls

Tanzania up 2-0

Using Beinsport connect7.

[kalani JR]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

[Enugu II]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

It appears you are seeking a fierce war on this site with the likes of Kabalega and Ogolo. Be ready.

[Tunisian Gooner]

[mystic]

Congrats to all the teams. Looking forward to the draw. Then the fun begins.

[Undertaker]

I counted 10 team useless teams that have no business in the AFCON!

[Orion]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

[Benedict Iroha]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

[kalani JR]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

I think Wales and Iceland would have done well even without the expanded field, but everything else highlighted my issue with it. Those last two teams made it with a combined goal difference of zero.

[Enugu II]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

I think Wales and Iceland would have done well even without the expanded field, but everything else highlighted my issue with it. Those last two teams made it with a combined goal difference of zero.

Those things can happen with a smaller format. Nigeria reached the final of AFCON 1984 by winning how many games again? Italy was world champion in 1982 without winning a single group game. Thus draws such as those obtained by Portugal are not synonymous with an expanded format.

[kalani JR]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

I think Wales and Iceland would have done well even without the expanded field, but everything else highlighted my issue with it. Those last two teams made it with a combined goal difference of zero.

Those things can happen with a smaller format. Nigeria reached the final of AFCON 1984 by winning how many games again? Italy was world champion in 1982 without winning a single group game. Thus draws such as those obtained by Portugal are not synonymous with an expanded format.

Not opposed to teams getting lucky breaks into latter rounds but a lot of those third placed finishers and "smaller" teams were poor to watch.

[bepanda]

What is the exact drawback of having more teams?
There are lots of advantages of having more teams and here are a few.
1. Financially: more games means more money. But it doesn't necessarily means proportionally more expenses.
2. Viewership: More countries involved, more views and interests from those countries.
3. Wider audience and interest
4. More likelyhood that good team will not fail to qualify.
5. Countries who have one or two star players can finally make it. If my recollection is correct, countries like Liberia didn't qualify many times, therefore players like Weah didn't really have impact at the AFCON
... and many more reasons.
Now your turn ...
Bepanda

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.
3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

I think Wales and Iceland would have done well even without the expanded field, but everything else highlighted my issue with it. Those last two teams made it with a combined goal difference of zero.

[kalani JR]

What is the exact drawback of having more teams?
There are lots of advantages of having more teams and here are a few.
1. Financially: more games means more money. But it doesn't necessarily means proportionally more expenses.
2. Viewership: More countries involved, more views and interests from those countries.
3. Wider audience and interest
4. More likelyhood that good team will not fail to qualify.
5. Countries who have one or two star players can finally make it. If my recollection is correct, countries like Liberia didn't qualify many times, therefore players like Weah didn't really have impact at the AFCON
... and many more reasons.
Now your turn ...
Bepanda

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.
3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

I think Wales and Iceland would have done well even without the expanded field, but everything else highlighted my issue with it. Those last two teams made it with a combined goal difference of zero.

1. I'm a fan that isn't really my concern.
2. It's the AFCON they'll watch either way.
3. See previous
4. I think this hands them an extra lifeline they shouldn't get.
5. Just about every major African star has played in the competition, even Kallon.

[Molue Conductor]

We need to go back to 16, imagine having this many east african teams at the afcon.

There are 54 nations in Africa so almost half now qualify for the AFCON. What a joke. They've really watered down the competition just to get underserving East/South African teams in it.

3/4 of the opening games will be played to empty stadiums.

I love it! Look at what happened in Europe in 2016 when they expanded. Iceland, Wales, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Slovakia all made it to the 2nd round, the eventual champions Portugal did not even win one game in the group stages.

only won 1 game in regulation time actually.