Form is temporary. Class is permanent.
You’ll hear this a lot in the next two months as national teams race against time to find the best players for the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022. Coaches will have to choose between well-known performers who are not getting playing time and not-so-popular players quietly racking up the minutes at club level.
On paper, national teams must be filled with only those in or on form. But things are not that binary, in reality. “It’s about trust,” former Uganda star David Obua tells SuperSport. “When I was a player I didn’t understand why someone not on form could get into a team. Now, I’m a coach, and I know sometimes you field a player because you trust his ability to deliver something specific for you.”
In a World Cup year, the same principle holds. We’ve looked through the potential squads for Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana and highlighted players whose transfer window activity – or lack of it – could impact their national team form. Or maybe not.
- ERIC CHOUUPO-MOTING (Cameroon)
A recent injury has not helped matters for a player who has never been a sure starter at Bayern Munich, since joining from PSG in October 2020. Although he is on the mend, it remains difficult to see how he gets games when Sadio Mané, with five goals in six games, is already an undisputed fixture in the club’s attack.
Choupo-Moting is not what you’d call a pure striker. He is best deployed to attack from either wing, which essentially conflicts with Mané. To deepen his woes, Bayern’s deployment of several formations already this season tells its own story: beat Frankfurt 6-1 with a 4-4-2 (Mané and Serge Gnabry up top); won 2-0 against Wolfsburg with a 4-2-3-1 (Mané up top, Gnabry as second striker); used 4-4-2 to thump Bochum 7-0 (Mané and Thomas Mueller upfront); deployed a 4-2-2-2 (Mané, Mueller upfront; Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané behind).
The Bavarians have options, but should the Cameroonian expect to be fielded much in the coming months, seeing as the team shape is so pliable? Tobi Altschaffl, Chief Football Reporter at Bild does not think so: “Eric is not good enough to be a starter.”
The feeling is that the 33-year-old will be fringe, as was evidenced when he was given 22 minutes in the German Cup on Wednesday. Luckily for him, Cameroonian journalist Lesley Angu says the player will most certainly make the Indomitable Lions’ squad for the World Cup. “When fit, he should be expected to start behind regular front three of captain Vincent Aboubakar, Karl Toko-Ekambi and Nicolas Ngamaleu.”
Having played at the 2010 and 2014 showpieces already, his experience – and not his form – is what may do the trick for Choupo-Moting in Qatar.
- ANRE ONANA (Cameroon)
When he conceded a bizarre own goal in the third-place match at the AFCON, the collective groan from the home crowd evinced the tough few years Onana has had. One of the best young goalkeepers in Europe over the last five years, winning two Dutch league titles and helping Ajax to an unlikely semi-final in the Champions League in 2019, his star dimmed after serving a controversial nine-month drug ban slapped on him after an out-of-competition test returned positive. Joining Inter Milan in January was supposed to erase all that, but it has not been easy.
"I'm always confident. I'm not afraid," the 26-year-old told BBC earlier this year. But should he have tried leaving Inter in pursuit of more guaranteed minutes elsewhere? Perhaps, in the knowledge that his national team position is not under threat, Onana has decided not to risk it.
His last 90 minute-game at club level was in November 2021.
- IDRISSA GANA GUEYE (Senegal)
Usually first-choice defensive midfielder for his national team, he had to be deployed elsewhere at the Afcon because of how good Nampalys was. Gana, too, has struggled for playing time at PSG.
Which is why he’s made a last-minute return to Everton, the club where he forged a rep as one of the best in the world between 2016 and 2019. “It’s good to be back home….I’ll give my soul to this team,” the soon-to-be 33-year-old tells Everton in his first interview.
Looking back, bar a few memorable performances, notably in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Manchester City, Gana was unable to really hit the heights in Paris. And then, of course, the controversy over the player not aligning himself with PSG’s support of the LGBTQ movement was the nail in the coffin.
At Everton, he will get a lot of time in a team widely speculated to be heading for regulation this season. Gana will be key if they buck the trend.
- ABDOU DIALLO (Senegal)
Same soup as Gana, at the same club. In a star-studded PSG lineup, the defender could not get a look in, playing just 12 league matches in a season where the title was wrapped up with four games to spare. And, like his countryman, Diallo has made a move out.
German side RB Leipzig confirmed a loan on Thursday as they look to have a squad to challenge Bayern’s Bundesliga stranglehold, while making a splash in a Champions League group featuring Milan, Chelsea and Dinamo Zagreb.
A player good across a back three, the 26-year-old is also competent at left-back. With game time almost guaranteed at the Red Bull Arena, Diallo will certainly start Senegal’s World Cup games against the Netherlands, Qatar and Ecuador.
- NAMPALYS MENDY (Senegal)
Papy, as he’s known, was almost unplayable earlier this year when his midfield displays drove Senegal to their first Africa Cup of Nations trophy. Funny thing is he went into the January tournament on the back of just 31 minutes played for Leicester in the preceding three months.
Mendy was supposed to be the heir to Ngolo Kanté, but it hasn’t quite worked at well for him with the Foxes, where he’s played just 61 minutes this season -- and that was against Stockport, a fourth-tier side in the English League Cup.
The competition in central midfield at the club is fierce – Boubakary Soumaré (France) is regular now, while Dennis Praet (Belgium), and Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria) are preferred on the bench – and it has reflected in his lack of playing time since he joined from OGC Nice in 2018. Now with a year left on his contract, Papy couldn’t get a move before the window closed on Thursday night.
BBC Radio Leicester journalist Jason Bourne is not too optimistic for the midfielder: “He’s a solid player without being spectacular. But perhaps not that kind of extra quality a Premier League team challenging for things in the last few years need.”
And yet, as is the case for Choupo-Moting at Bayern, Papy has been reliable for his country. What does national team coach Aliou Cissé do in Qatar?
“The World Cup is different from the Afcon and the level required to succeed is not same,” says Bakr Bodiang, a Senegalese football watcher. “Papy should definitely be in the squad, but there are probably others who may be more deserving of a start.”
- PAPE GUEYE (Senegal)
Even though Marseille coach Igor Tudor is not confident in Pape’s abilities, the club has stubbornly refused to consider offers for the 23-year-old. His conduct throughout this difficult period – where he’s featured just twice in the league – has been classy, being gracious in all media interactions.
After scoring the winning goal in Marseille’s 1-0 win against Clermont on Wednesday, he parried questions about his future by saying he’s willing to fight for his place in defensive midfield. He’d have to do same for his national team, who seem to have an abundance of players in that position. The last time he featured for Senegal was in a World Cup qualifier last November.
- MOHAMMED KUDUS (Ghana)
After featuring for just 29 minutes of Ajax’s campaign despite a very good pre-season, the 22-year-old midfielder has been in riotous mood in the last week, boycotting training as he tried to force a move to Everton. His employers, who lost forward Antony to Manchester United days ago, have not budged – insisting Kudus is part of their plans.
One of Ghana’s assistant coaches, George Boateng, told local TV channel Joy News that he is “not sure leaving Ajax is the best idea [because] the club is one of the best places to develop”, echoing the sentiment of many. Yet, a large section of Ghanaians believe the talented midfielder to take a leap of faith, go somewhere, and get games under his boots as Qatar gets closer.
- FELIX AFENA-GYAN (Ghana)
It’s hard to believe that in March 2021, this chap was playing football at a secondary school in Ghana. Yep, just 18 months is what it’s taken him to move to Roma, get first team football and have a very public bromance with José Mourinho.
Add the small matter of becoming a senior national team regular and you get how serendipitous his fortunes have been. Now 19, Felix’s raw talents need honing and, a more ambitious Roma – aiming for a Scudetto – are unlikely to have offered him much playing time this campaign.
With that in mind, he’s made the move to newly promoted Cremonese, who should give him more than enough chances to polish his obvious prospects in the Serie A. He has a lot to prove.
“It’s good that Afena-Gyan gets playing time,” notes assistant Ghana coach Boateng. “A smaller club gives him time and space to grow without pressure.”
Seal of approval, then?
With 80 days to the World Cup (the day of the kick-off inclusive), expect the mad jostling for regular playing time to intensify.
And we’re here for it.
Source: Gary Al-Smith