Bad news for Liverpool, as potential AFCON changed dates are on the cards
The AFCON competition is set to take place at the start of 2022 in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6 and during this time frame, Liverpool will play two Premier League games and a FA Cup game.
Meanwhile, the Reds African stars Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Naby Keita will depart to Cameroon for the competition. As Liverpool are surging for the League title and are currently just a point behind Man City, losing the trio will be a big blow for the Merseyside club.
January has always been a tough month for Klopp’s men. As previously seen, the Reds had lost their grip on the league title during this month in the last season.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has a mammoth task ahead to navigate his squad. And also there is still uncertainty around the departure dates. It is not clear if the trio will be available for the Chelsea game on January 2nd.
Moreover, to rub salt on the wound of Liverpool, Klopp might face another tricky situation. Egyptian club Al Ahly are persuading the African football governing body to bring forward AFCON on January 3 due to their involvement in the Club World Cup.
As Club World Cup starts three days before the end of AFCON. While a host of key players of Al Ahly’s will be taking part in the competition. Thus, now the Egyptian club has urged the Egyptian FA to help & resolve the issue.
How will the scenerio change for Liverpool if AFCON starts from january 3?
With the Egyptian club, Al Ahly urging for prepone of AFCON to January 3rd, which will result in an earlier departure for the African trio.
Mirror‘s David Lynch has reported, according to guidelines the players are to be released by the Monday morning of the week before the competition starts.
This means December 27 i.e. Monday, which is right after Liverpool’s game against Leeds United. Thus, if the tournament is somehow preponed, the African trio will miss two crucial away games at Leicester and Chelsea.
So clearly, there are nasty consequences for the Reds with preponement for the AFCON competition.
