Former Manchester City and the Ivory Coast star Yaya Toure has described the Super Eagles as the standout national team at the recently concluded African Cup of Nations tournament.
Eric Chelle’s high-scoring team enjoyed a remarkable unbeaten streak in the tournament until their unfortunate semifinal defeat to the host nation, Morocco, losing 4-2 on penalties, having scored 14 goals while conceding just four.
They finished the tournament with a third-place finish after defeating Egypt in a penalty shootout.
In an interview with Bleacher Report Football on Monday, Touré, a four-time African Footballer of the Year, commented on the tournament’s overall performance, praising Algeria and hosts Morocco for their impressive gameplay during the event.
The assistant coach of Saudi Arabia stated that Morocco, who lost to Senegal in a dramatic final, played very direct and pragmatic football.
“I’ve been seeing the AFCON, and I’ve been there as well. I’ve been impressed with Algeria; unfortunately, they were kicked out by Nigeria. I’m impressed by the team with Regragui, the manager of Morocco, who is very pragmatic, very direct, and playing counterattack,” he said.
However, the former Barcelona player named Nigeria as the standout team of the biennial competition.
He said, “I was impressed with Nigeria. Nigeria played good football. When you see the stats, they’ve been scoring more goals than usual, full strike, full attack, and playing very good football.
“The most impressive for me, in my opinion, was Nigeria. The football they were playing, the goals they were scoring, and the players winning, because I think they have two of the best African players on their team.
“They played such wonderful games, and they got kicked out by Morocco in the semifinal, as you can see.”
Touré also applauded the Congolese team as well as his Ivorian side but admitted that they were young and naive.
“Well, Congo was also good. I like Congo. They were doing well until they were kicked out by Algeria. I think the Ivory Coast team was a young team, at times a bit naive, but anyway, it’s part of football and experience,” he added.
