5 April 2011
After months of your nominations and votes, we finally settled on our MTNFootball.com All-Time African XI, which you can see here!
However, we have had a ton of feedback from readers wanting to have their say. Here is a selection for you, why not tell us what you think!
MTNFOOTBALL.COM READER FEEDBACK:
From Bashar Kanoma:
Make no mistake about d majority of ur verdict, but still I doubt if Essien deserve 2 b there even though it takes lots of time thinking of [who] is capable of playing the much better than him- with record so far.
MTNFootball.com reply:
Thanks Bashar, it certainly was closely-fought in the midfield positions, but Essien proved the ‘people’s winner’! If you look at what he has achieved with Lyon and now Chelsea, his trophy haul is superb and there is no doubt that when fit and firing, he is among the best defensive midfielders in the European game, if not the very best.
From Nwa Nando
Jay-Jay Okocha is the greatest midfielder to have come from Africa.
MTNFootball.com reply:
Thanks Nwa, Jay-Jay was on our list of nominees, but did not receive the public support from the voters. Jay-Jay was a great player, make no mistake, but was he the greatest? That is an opinion that many may carry, but when you compare him to the achievements of an Abedi Pele or Ahmed Hassan, is honours don’t stack up.
From Kenn Kenniest:
The truth is that all those selected lack the true knowledge of Africa football. They should not nominate to favour their country men because this is Africa thing. I think the audience here are just young people who were not yet in the terrain when these African players were playing the game for fun and not for money. No one single player from the 1984 Ivory Coast squad? Where is Rashidi Yekini, Kanu Nwankwo, Victor Ikpeba, Titi Kamara. Emmanuel Amunike, Juluis Bokande. Michael Essien should have no place there.
MTNFootball.com reply:
Thanks Kenn, how quickly we do forget the greats of the past. Many of those players you listed received nominations, but once again they did not get the votes of others rightly or wrongly. He has also won the French Ligue 1 twice, English Premiership three times, English FA Cup three times and the Carling Cup once. It is hard to argue with that trophy haul.
From Bashar Kanoma:
Heated argument arose between my group of pals why players like Okocha, Kanu and Radebe couldn’t make it. Please let them know the criteria used.
MTNFootball.com reply:
Thanks again Bashar! We asked MTNFooball.com readers to nominate players that they felt should be in an all-time African XI. Once the nominations were in, we put it to a public vote, with over 60 000 readers having their say. The top players in each position were then placed into the side. The three that you mention were all nominated, but unfortunately they did not garner enough votes. This was truly a side selected by MTNFootball.com readers from all over the continent! It is fair to say that trying to squeeze in just eleven players was always going to be a near impossible task because someone will always feel their favourite players should be there. But the people have spoken!
