Rules, hats, projections: all you need to know about the CAN 2021 draw
The draw for the CAN 2021 qualifiers was made on July 18, 2019 by Mahmoud Al-Khathib, Samuel Eto'o, Khalilou Fadiga, Nwankwo Kanu and Rabah Madjer.
Mohamed El-Shahed / AFP
Text by: Tom Rossi Follow
7 mins
This Tuesday, August 17, the draw for the next African Cup of Nations will take place at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé.
Composition of hats, selections to avoid and possible group of "death", RFI gives you the keys to better understand the event, less than five months before the opening match of this CAN in Cameroon, postponed from 2021 to 2022 (January 9-February 6).
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Like the competition itself, the draw for CAN 2021, scheduled for last June, has been postponed until Tuesday, August 17.
From 6 p.m. universal time, all players in African football will have their eyes riveted on the Yaoundé Convention Center where the event will take place.
Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré and Jay-Jay Okocha should be present for the occasion.
Four hats according to the FIFA rankings
As for CAN 2019, the 24 selections will be divided into six groups of four.
To avoid pools where the best selections would be found, these are divided into four pots according to the latest FIFA ranking, established on August 12.
Senegal is the best ranked (21st) ahead of Tunisia (28th) and Algeria, reigning African champion (30th).
They appear unsurprisingly in hat 1 with Cameroon, the host country guaranteed to be in Pool A, Morocco and Nigeria.
POT 2: Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea
POT 3: Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau
POT 4: Malawi, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Comoros, Ethiopia, Gambia (148th in the FIFA ranking).
Here are the pots for the draw for # CAN2021 🏆
POT 1️⃣ 🇨🇲🇩🇿🇸🇳🇹🇳🇲🇦🇳🇬
POT 2️⃣ 🇪🇬🇬🇭🇨🇮🇲🇱🇧🇫🇬🇳
POT 3️⃣ 🇨🇻🇬🇦🇲🇷🇸 🇱🇿🇼🇬🇼
POT 4️⃣ 🇲🇼🇸🇩🇬🇶🇰🇲🇪🇹🇬🇲 pic.twitter.com/yue59qWjlp
- Africa Cup of Nations 2021 🏆🇨🇲 (@ CAN2021off) August 14, 2021
The first two of each group and the four best third will play the round of 16.
Algeria: scarecrow of this CAN
Holders of the title after their victory in the final over Senegal (1-0)
in the 2019 edition
, the Algerians are big favorites. In line with their coronation in Cairo, Riyad Mahrez's teammates put on a series of good performances and have just
beaten the continental record of invincibility
established by Côte d'Ivoire of Drogba in 2013: 27 games without defeat since October 2018, i.e. one more than the Ivorians.
But Algeria is aware that the African Cup of Nations rarely smiles twice on the same team.
Since 1968, a year of transition to eight selections, only Cameroon (2000-2002) and Egypt (2006-2008-2010) have managed to retain their title.
And then, since the beginning of the 2010s and the end of Egyptian domination, the expected team has not won.
Senegal, beaten only in a friendly by Morocco since CAN 2019, will be the other team in pot 1 to be avoided.
The most advanced group
Algeria-Egypt-Gabon-Sudan or
Senegal-Ivory Coast-Mauritania-Comoros.
Difficult to establish a single group of "death".
But if we are interested in the headliners, one or two hens emerge.
They would be composed of Algeria of Mahrez or Senegal of Mané, with Egypt of Salah and Gabon of Aubameyang.
Teammates in Liverpool, the Egyptian Mohamed Salah and the Senegalese Sadio Mané could meet at the CAN in Cameroon © REUTERS - PHIL NOBLE
The Comoros, on a cloud for their first participation, and Sudan, winner of Ghana and South Africa in qualifying, would add a little more spice.
The most open group
Cameroon-Mali-Cape Verde-Sudan or Comoros.
Cameroon will benefit from the support of its public but has not had the opportunity to really assess itself since its
elimination in the round of 16 of CAN 2019
.
Qualified automatically, the Indomitable Lions have not had a cleaver match for two years.
Four 0-0 in a row in 2020, a defeat against Cape Verde last March: Cameroon has few certainties before its CAN.
Perhaps the
2022 World Cup qualifying
matches
will help him.
Also eliminated in the round of 16 of CAN 2019
, Mali has since grown.
Its young players have gained experience and were able last June to shake up Algeria at home, in a friendly.
The Eagles lost (1-0) after having obtained several opportunities.
Malien Diaby against Mauritania, June 24, 2019 at the CAN.
REUTERS / Suhaib Salem
Cape Verde, winner of Olympic Brazil in a friendly and
undefeated in its qualifying group
which included Mozambique, Rwanda and Cameroon, would be able to perform well in such a group.
What to remember the quarter-final of the Blue Sharks at CAN 2013.
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