By Saani Abacha
The 2017 Nation’s Cup have promised to go down as one of the most unpredictable tourney ever after producing just three weeks in the opening eight games.
The biannual football festival has so far lived up to its billing with 11 different scorers and over 180 statistics.
Ahead of the second round of matches in the group stages, we take a look at the key statistical pack from the tournament so far.
1: Only one player have found the back of the net more than once in the tournament so far. Algerian nimble footed wonder chap, Riyadh Mahrez, remains the only player to have found the back of the net twice of the eleven scorers so far.
2: Two the of the tournament’s opening goal have come from the spot. The Warriors equalizer against Algeria in a 2-2 drawn game and the solitary winner from Andre Ayew in the Ghana versus Uganda game. Also, two of the opening eight games have failed to produce a goal after 90 minutes. The elephants dull stalemate against The Sparrow Hawks was followed by another blank game between Mali and Egypt. Finally, two past winners of the tournament have emerged Winners in the opening round of matches in the group stages.
3: The young tournament has so far produced 11 different goal scorers of the 132 players used in the tournament so far. Pierre Emmerick Aubameyeng added to his opening strikes in 2012 and 2015 in what was the opening goal of the game.
4: A total of twelve goals have been scored in the tournament so far after eight matches. An average of 1.5 goal per match is not what the fans are hoping for but the exploits of the shot stoppers played a key role.
5: A total of twenty yellow cards have been dished so far in the opening first round of the group fixtures. Of the sixteen nation’s to have played at the tournament z only Ghana, Togo and Ivory Coast have failed to pick at least one yellow card in the tournament. DR Congo and Cameroon lead the ranking with three each followed closely by Egypt, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
6: A total of 186 shots have been attempted at the tournament in the opening 8 games, averaging 23 shots per game. Tunisia leads the department with 24 while DR Congo found the back of the net from just one of their 4 shots. Algeria is closely following Tunisia on the ranking with their 23 shots.
7: A total 65 shots have reached the desired location in the opening eight games. The 65 shots on target have resulted in 12 goals, two from the dead ball though. The goal keeping heroics at the tournament have either parried or saved the remaining 53 shots on target.
8: An alarming 275 fouls have been recorded so far at the tournament in just eight games. The rugged nature of our game is depicted here with Morocco earning 27 of the total figure, DR Congo the culprits. The Ivory Coast versus Togo game however recorded the most fouls 46 fouls, Ghana versus Uganda clash recorded the least.
9: A meagre 34 offsides have been recorded in the opening round of fixtures. Ghana’s Jordan Ayew accounted for more the combined figures for the remaining seven matches. The Black Stars as a team recorded six whiles no other match recorded more.
10: Number of corner kicks recorded in the opening eight matches played. Algeria against Zimbabwe recorded 18 corner kicks, while Ghana versus Uganda recorded the least at 3.
Source: sportscrusader.com