Spurs international watch: AFCON qualifying round up
By Tom Vinall
On Friday, the second day of football during the October international break, there was plenty of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying action, including the teams of a couple of Tottenham Hotspur players. Let's see how things went.
To begin, Yves Bissouma started for, and captained Mali in their 1-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau, in the first showdown of the double header over this break. The Spurs midfielder played 89 minutes, recording; 3/4 successful dribbles, 56 touches, created one chance, won 7/8 ground duels, won 1/1 aerial duels, and drew four fouls in an all action, all round display.
This result leaves Mali top of their qualifying group for the Africa Cup of Nations, with seven points from three games - two points above Mozambique in second. They are four points ahead of Guinea-Bissau in third, with Bissouma's side only needing to finish in the top two to advance.
Elsewhere, Pape Matar Sarr's Senegal had a qualifying game against Malawi, which is also the first of a double header during this break. His side were able to record an impressive 4-0 victory at home. However, it was no thanks to Sarr himself, who was unfortunately an unused sub in the first game of the post Aliou Cisse era.
Usually, some rest would be seen as a good thing on international duty, but with Sarr not getting too much game time in the Premier League so far this season, 60+ minutes would not have been a bad thing at all to help get some minutes and sharpness into his legs for when he is needed in the starting XI in the league.
This win leaves Senegal in second place in their qualifying group, only below leaders Burkina Faso on goals scored, with both teams having seven points and a plus five goal difference after three games each.
As touched on above, Mali will travel to Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday for their next game, with kick off being 17:00 BST. Senegal will travel to Malawi, also on Tuesday, with that one being a 14:00 BST kick off.