Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Lebohang Maboe has revealed his favourites for this year’s African Cup of Nations tournament, which kicks off this evening in Cameroon. The tournament will be played across three weeks in the host nation , with the final being played on Sunday the 6th of February.
“I think I will give it to Senegal, with the quality they have – they are my favourites to lift the trophy. [They are my favourites] just from seeing how they were able to win their games, even recently watching them in their World Cup Qualifiers, just seeing the amount of depth and quality that they have – so they are my favourites.”
“At the same time we can’t look past countries like Nigeria, who probably have got the same amount of quality in their team, the likes of Ivory Coast, Morocco and Algeria.”
The PSL is currently on a break for the AFCON, meaning The Brazilians have had an opportunity to recover midway through the season before they begin their preparations for the busy second half. Maboe – who has yet to feature this season – gave his impressions on what he has enjoyed seeing most from Bafana Ba Style this season as he has been working on his rehabilitation:
“I think the team has been doing really really great this season, it hasn’t been easy having to play games every second or third day but that’s been our life at Sundowns for the past couple of years.”
“What has impressed me the most is how consistent we’ve been with our performances, not every game has been perfect but it’s easy [when you have a gap] to become complacent, but I haven’t seen that from any of the guys. [I’ve also been impressed] seeing how much the coaches demand from the players and how the players have responded to that.”