AFCON - best international tournament ever? S5 Bonus

It’s February 11th - welcome to the latest edition of the pod, after the Reds get past Burnley to go back to the top of the league and now have a week before Brentford. I’m Paul and I am joined by Lingerr, Haitham and  We’ll talk about the Reds before we are done but after a great tournament we need to talk more about AFCON. Part One - reflections on the tournament: Context, your AFCON experience over the years - growing up, watching from afar here in the US? As an outsider, this one was a great spectacle, it seemed about the teams and the football, and almost no Gianni Infantino or Alexsander Ceferin is an absolute bonus. Seems like a series of upsets from an outside perspective. Lots of last minute goals and spot kick drama. Super exciting for someone not fully invested in any of the teams - must have been tough to watch if you were. Overall a more open tournament - 116 goals - 2.4 per game. Goals dried up a bit in the knock out games. What about the favorites - Senegal, Egypt, Morocco? Was that it for Mo and a chance to win AFCON? North African teams generally:( I enjoyed Cape Verde, Angola, DR Congo - how much did they exceed expectations? What about South Africa? Where did they come from? Did it help having everyone be familiar with each other? The state of club football - Morocco 84th in the world  Number of players born outside Africa - perspectives? Part two - the Final and wider: The Final - Côte D’Ivoire vs Nigeria The game itself Was it destined to be them? ‘The dead goat does not fear the night’ Nigeria played up to its reputation finally didn’t they? But really didn’t look as good in the final Wait Alex Iwobi is Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew! All those strikers - Osihmen, Chukweze (and Boniface who was injured) Does this mean anything for the 2026 World Cup? Could CIV host a World Cup? Wrap up - Liverpool - 14 wins to a deserved 20th title? We will be back with a review of the Burnley game. Thanks to Lingerr and Haitham. And thank you dear listener for joining us. If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic