Some African players have been speaking on the chances of the five nominees for the 2006 Glo-CAF Awards for African Footballer of the Year with Ghana’s Michael Essien playing down his chances of emerging winner for the first tiame.
Essien, an important player in Chelsea’s quest for a third consecutive Premiership title and first European Champions League title, told SuperSport Futbol Africa that he was very happy for the nomination but could not say if he was the man for the title.
“I am happy for the honour of being nominated; it is something every player wishes to have. It is not a matter of me winning it, you know all the nominees deserve the award because they have been doing well for their clubs,” Essien said.Continuing, the former Lyon star rated teammate Didier Drogba and Barcelona’s Samuel Eto as favourites ahead of Nigeria’s Nwankwo Kanu and Egypt’s Mohamed Aboutreka.
He said, “Drogba has been fantastic for Chelsea, scoring beautiful goals and Eto remains very good.“They deserve the awards and so also all the others.” Hossam Ghali of Zamalek, Egypt also described the nominees as worthy of the awards, saying, “I think the nominations are good. I believe anyone who wins it deserves it.”
For Senegal’s Pape Bouba Diop, the 2006 awards selection will be the most difficult, arguing that there were other players meriting the award apart from the nominees. The Fulham midfielder said, “I think Eto, Drogba, Essien and all the five deserve the award. It’s good for Africa because it means we are doing very well in our game.”
The top three nominees as voted by the coaches of the 53 national associations of the Confederation of African Football will be announced on Thursday in Cairo. The CAF Awards ceremony will hold at the Accra International Conference Centre on January 18.
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