AFCON Is The Same As EUROS – Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira, the new Crystal Palace manager and a France legend, has compared the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to the European Championship. In the English Premier League, Patrick Vieira is now the manager of Crystal Palace. Afcon is the same as Euros – Patrick Vieira discloses.
Due to its schedule and the dread of the new COVID-19 variation Omicron, the AFCON has been heavily criticised, particularly by European clubs.
Some teams have expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of its African players, who have been called up by their respective countries for the event, which starts on 9th January 2022 in Cameroon.
“I respect and I understand the passion and importance of those players to go and represent their country,” Vieira said on Palace’s official website.
“I will never stop any players going to the Africa Cup of Nations. I believe that competition has to be more respected because this competition is as important as the European Championship”, he said.
“With Senegal, I don’t think people understand [Sadio] Mane or Cheikhou Kouyate not representing their nation. If there was more coverage people will understand how important it is for the African continent,’ Patrick Vieira added.
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Crystal Palace is expected to lose three players: Cote d’Ivoire’s Wilfried Zaha, Senegal’s Cheikhou Kouyate, and Ghana’s Jordan Ayew.
These three players are essential to their team’s success and are frequently selected for the first team.
Despite the absence of three of his players, the Senegalese-born former France international has stated that he will never prevent any of his players from participating in the competition.