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By: Ebenezer Bajela
Super Eagles midfielder Frank Onyeka completed more tackles (14) and interceptions (11) than any other player during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Brentford midfielder justified Jose Peseiro’s faith in him as he put on an impressive performance at the 34th AFCON, helping Nigeria to a second-place finish.
He was instrumental to the Eagles, playing 608 minutes out of a possible 660 minutes — only Semi Ajayi played more minutes than the midfielder.
Despite having Raphael Onyedika in the team, Peseiro stuck to the Brentford midfielder and recent statistics released by the Confederation of African Football confirmed that the 26-year-old had more tackles and interceptions than any other player at the AFCON.
Meanwhile, Onyeka was closely followed by compatriot, Calvin Bassey, who completed 13 tackles, just one short of the midfielder.
Prior to the AFCON, Bassey was heavily criticised by some fans for his soft style of football but in Ivory Coast, the Fulham midfielder brought out the beast in him and another stats showed that at no point was the defender beaten by opponents at the AFCON.
DR Congo’s Gédéon Kalulu had the third best tackle completion at the Africa showpiece with 12 tackles.
The FC Lorient defender was instrumental to the Leopards incredible run at the AFCON, where they got to the semi-finals of the competition before losing to hosts Ivory Coast.
South Africa’s Aubrey Modiba and Ivory Coast’s Ghislain Konan both had 11 tackles to finish joint fourth.
Onyeka was in action for Brentford last weekend but came on for the last 27 minutes as the Bees suffered a 4-1 defeat at home to Liverpool.
Thomas Frank will, however, hope to have the Nigerian fully fit for their next Premier League game against Manchester City on Tuesday (today).