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    AFCON and Asia Cup: Key Players Missing From Europe’s Top Leagues

    AFCON and Asia Cup: Key Players Missing From Europe’s Top Leagues
    01/12/2024 1289

    With the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asia Cup set to kick off in the Ivory Coast and Qatar, respectively, Forebet has scoured Europe’s top leagues to find the biggest names heading to the mid-season international tournaments.

    Premier League

    A total of 39 Premier League players will feature at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asia Cup in the coming weeks. Only three teams – Burnley, Manchester City and Newcastle United – are not affected by the tournaments.

    The highest-profile absentees are undoubtedly Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Tottenham’s Heung-min Son (South Korea). Salah has racked up 18 goals and nine assists this season, while Son has bagged 12 goals and five assists.

    Nottingham Forest have the most AFCON participants, with seven players of their players – Ola Aina (Nigeria), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast) Chiekhou Kouyate (Senegal) and Moussa Niakhate (Senegal) – heading to the tournament.

    Other notable Premier League stars include Manchester United’s Andre Onana (Cameroon), Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu (Japan), Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma (Japan), Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson (Senegal) and West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus (Ghana).

    Bundesliga

    The Bundesliga will also be greatly impacted by the Asia Cup and AFCON. A total of 28 Bundesliga players will miss domestic action, with 17 heading to the Ivory Coast and 11 travelling to Qatar.

    Two of the league’s top scorers – VfB Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy (Guinea) and Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface (Nigeria) – will compete at AFCON. Guirassy has netted 17 goals in 14 games this term, while Boniface has notched 10 goals and seven assists.

    Leverkusen will also be without Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast), Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Amine Adli (Morocco), while Bayern Munich will be missing Kim Min-jae (South Korea) and Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco).

    Borussia Dortmund will have to make do without Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast) and Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria), while RB Leipzig will wave goodbye to Amadou Haidara (Mali) and Ilaix Moriba (Guinea).

    La Liga, Serie A & Ligue 1

    Europe’s other top leagues are not as affected by AFCON and the Asia Cup. Still, there are plenty of notable names from La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 heading to the Ivory Coast and Qatar.

    In La Liga, Atletico Madrid will be without Reinildo (Mozambique). Athletic Club’s Inaki Williams (Ghana), Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo (Japan) and Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco) are also among the absentees.

    Over in Serie A, the biggest names are Napoli’s Victor Osimhen (Nigeria), AC Milan’s Ismael Bennacer (Algeria) and Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria), Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman (Nigeria) and Lazio Daichi Kamada (Japan).

    Given that many African-born players with citizenship in their respective countries play in France, Ligue 1 will lose multiple players to AFCON. PSG’s Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Monaco’s Mohamed Camara (Mali) and PSG’s Kang-in Lee (South Korea) are among the top names.

    Premier League

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    Western Conference

    OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
    1
    Vancouver Whitecaps 52 29 15 7 7 31
    2
    Saint Louis City 51 29 14 9 6 16
    3
    FC Dallas 50 29 14 8 7 8
    4
    San Jose Earthquakes 47 29 13 8 8 10
    5
    Houston Dynamo 45 28 13 6 9 2
    6
    Los Angeles FC 42 29 11 9 9 13
    7
    Seattle Sounders 41 29 11 8 10 2
    8
    Colorado Rapids 38 29 11 5 13 0
    9
    Los Angeles Galaxy 36 29 9 9 11 -11
    10
    Portland Timbers 33 28 9 6 13 -3
    11
    Real Salt Lake 33 29 9 6 14 -5
    12
    San Diego 32 28 8 8 12 -3
    13
    Minnesota United 31 29 7 10 12 -9
    14
    Austin FC 31 28 7 10 11 -15
    15
    Sporting Kansas City 22 29 6 4 19 -37
    Play-off 1/8-finals
    Play-off 1/16-finals

    Eastern Conference

    OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
    1
    Nashville SC 66 29 20 6 3 41
    2
    Inter Miami CF 52 29 14 10 5 20
    3
    New England Revolution 49 29 15 4 10 7
    4
    Chicago Fire 48 29 14 6 9 9
    5
    Charlotte FC 46 29 13 7 9 8
    6
    Philadelphia Union 45 29 13 6 10 13
    7
    Orlando City SC 38 29 11 5 13 -15
    8
    FC Cincinnati 36 28 9 9 10 -8
    9
    New York Red Bulls 36 29 10 6 13 -15
    10
    New York City FC 33 29 8 9 12 2
    11
    Toronto FC 33 29 7 12 10 -11
    12
    DC United 33 28 7 12 9 -11
    13
    Columbus Crew 32 29 9 5 15 -3
    14
    Atlanta United 30 29 8 6 15 -12
    15
    Montreal Impact 24 29 6 6 17 -24
    Play-off 1/8-finals
    Play-off 1/16-finals

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