Picking an African XI to Take on Europe and South America

Chris spent the weekend lining up a European XI and a South American XI , and that got me thinking about Africa. What would an African XI look like, and how would they fair against their European and South American counterparts? The standard of African football gets better every year. More and more African players are not only playing in Europe, but are dominant players on big teams in the biggest leagues. Africa may not have the same depth of talent as Europe or South America, but in a one-off game I’ll bet the continent could field a competitive team against either. My best guess at an African XI after the jump. I don’t claim to be an expert on African football, and certainly my knowledge is biased by watching too much European football. But the best I can hope for is to put forward a team based on what I’ve seen, and hope someone out there with better knowledge can educate me. But here goes: African XI —————–Kameni————— Eboue–Toure(K)–Yobo–Touwe—- —————–Diarra—————– ———Essien———Appiah——– —————-Aboutreika———— ———Drogba—–Eto’o——— Goalkeeper: Carlos Kameni (Cameroon and Espanyol) gets the nod ahead of Essam El-Hadary (Egypt and El-Ahly,) mostly because he’s done the business in one of Europe’s toughest leagues. El-Hadary has had an impressive ten years at El-Ahly, who are almost certainly Africa’s biggest club but don’t face the same opposition that Kameni does in La Liga. Defence: Emmanuel Eboué (Ivory Coast and Arsenal) and Hatem Trabelsi (Tunisia and Al-Hilal) are both powerful right-backs who love to burst forward. But Eboué gets the no. 2 shirt because Trabelsi struggled to find a team after being released by Manchester City this summer while Eboué has been featuring for the team that tops the Premier League right now (albeit as a right midfielder.) Taye Taiwo (Nigeria and Marseilles) not only has a brilliant name, he’s also a great young left back with a sweet left foot. Central defence is dominated by Kolo “Colossus” Touré (Ivory Coast and Arsenal) where he’s powerful in the air, strong in the tackle, reads the game well and is comfortable on the ball. What more could you ask for. The battle to partner Touré is won by Joseph Yobo, who (Nigeria and Everton) who despite ocassional lapses in concentration has all the same attributes as the Arsenal man. Midfield: Looking at the options available, it seems there aren’t as many quality African wingers as there are central midfielders. So, I’m gambling that the best formation for an African XI is to pack it tight in the middle by using one dedicated defensive mid in Mahamadou Diarra (Mali and Real Madrid) and two action packed box to box center mids in Michael Essien (Ghana and Chelsea) and Stephen Appiah (Ghana and Fenerbahçe) and one creative type in Mohamed Aboutreika (Egypt and El-Ahly) to unpick defensive locks. Like fellow Egyptian Essam El-Hadary, Aboutreika has spent most of his career at El-Ahly, but this Africa XI needs a creative midfielder, so “the Egyptian Zidane” gets the nod. Unlucky to miss out in midfield were Kolo’s little brother Yaya Touré (Ivory Coat and Barcelona) and the sweet left foot of Sulley Muntari (Ghana and Portsmouth.) Strikers: Plenty of goalscoring names to choose from here. There’s Fredi Kanoute (Mali and Seville,) Beni McCarthy (South Africa and Blackburn,) Obafemi Martins (Nigeria and Newcastle) and Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo and Arsenal.) But it’s very hard to look past a paring if Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast and Chelsea) and Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon and Barcelona.) Can you imagine the damage those two would do together? So what do you think? Possibly my African XI leans too heavily on West African talent - Egypt are the current African Cup of Nations holders yet are only represented by one player - and certainly there’s a lack of width, but this is the team I’d send out to face Europe or South America. Could my team be improved? Are there any defenders I’ve missed out? And above all, how would this African XI, or an improved one, fare against Chris’s European and South American XI’s?