It’s about that time again when player’s efforts over the past 12 months are rewarded through an awards night. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be having theirs in Senegal’s administrative capital Dakar.
The usual suspects Sadio Mane and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang all made the shortlist, hoping to spoil it for Egypt’s version of Messi – a certain diminutive marauding genius turning heads at Anfield and beyond.
Billed for January 8th, the event sees Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah attempts to shove aside competitions aimed at retaining the gong.
If ever there is an African version of Messi versus Ronaldo in recent times, then Salah and Arsenal’s Aubameyang will be classic clear cut case of that. The rivalries might be between the three but competition looks a lot more intense between the Egyptian and Aubameyang.
Unlike the Liverpool duo, the Gabon striker was a missing piece at the time football’s very best talents gathered in Moscow during the World Cup. While this may sway the verdict for many in casting ballots, Aubameyang chose a different part to serve reminder of his talent, using the English Premier League -the platform available to every one of the trio.
The Gunners’ forward’s inner circle believe the North African nabbed the award because the erstwhile St. Etienne man arrived in the EPL mid in the season when he sanctioned a move to the Emirates Stadium from Dortmund. He still went on to make it 10 goals in thirteen starts.
The duel appears lot tighter in his second spell now that both played almost the same amount of games. The scoring log talks of an all-African dominance as the pair are tied on 13 nettings each in a campaign that promises to treat football lovers to a never before seen spectacle.
In this battle of individual dominance in which goals seems to have become a deciding factor, there can only emerge one winner and, intriguingly, all three players are convinced of their worth.
Taranga Lions’ skipper Sadio Mane, the sole striker of the triumvirate never to have won the silverware, is five shy of hitting the 13-goal mark but remains buoyed up anyways.
26-year-old Mane knows the ghost of the past is El Hadji Diouf whom he is perpetually compared to in everything but lifestyle. However, these comparisons will serve no meaning if he fails to win the African Footballer of the Year which Diouf won twice.
