The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations could be postponed until 2022 due to the impact of the current global pandemic.
This comes after Liverpool journalist James Pearce claimed in a recent episode of Liverpool-focused ‘The Red Agenda’ podcast (12.20), that “it looks like it probably will do” in regards to the possibility of the tournament being pushed back a year from its original starting date.
The original starting date of the proposed 2021 tournament was originally supposed to be in January as the dates were moved from the summer months to avoid the bad weather in the host country of Cameroon (per BBC Sport).
This would have impacted Liverpool as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita were all likely to take part in the competition, resulting in them potentially missing out on a number of matches for the Merseyside club (per The Telegraph).
Will the AFCON be a big problem for Liverpool?
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TIF Thoughts…
Now that Pearce has claimed that the tournament could be postponed for a year due to the impact of the viral outbreak, this means that the trio would not have to miss any games for Liverpool next season.
However, unless the dates of the tournament are changed again, they will still be likely to miss some games for their club, just a year later than originally thought.
This could be a big deal for the Reds, particularly with Mane and Salah’s absence as the pair are current Liverpool’s top two performers this season as collectively they have scored 30 goals in 26 Premier League appearances (per WhoScored).
It’s hard to see Liverpool not being impacted by the duo’s potential absence as they partake in AFCON when it begins.