Michael Ngadeu got a higher rating than Mohamed Salah! But his Cameroon didn’t make it to the final

Michael Ngadeu could have written a beautiful tale at the Africa Cup of Nations. Before AFCON, nobody believed in his Cameroon. According to analysts, the Indomitable Lions had just less than 3% chance of winning the entire championship. But a team with a great defensive record was not far from knocking out the favoured Egypt and advancing to the final.

Michael Ngadeu gave an above-standard performance throughout the championship. The Indomitable Lions conceded only 4 goals during the tournament and Cameroon’s defensive performance was solid even against a strong Egypt with attacking ace Mohamed Salah.

The ex-Slavic stopper helped Cameroon keep a clean sheet and could have even scored a goal, only for his 18th minute header to end up on the bar.

The regulation time of the closely watched AFCON semi-final ended in a 0-0 draw, with no resolution in extra time, so penalties had to be awarded.

Cameroon literally collapsed in the penalty shootout, missing three penalty kicks and the Egyptians converted all their attempts. So it is Mohamed Salah’s Egypt that heads to the final against Senegal after all.

Anyway, Ngadeu was one of the highest rated players of the match and got a higher rating than the Liverpool star. The central defender got a 7.08 and Salah a 6.03.

The former Slavia Prague defender had 88 touches of the ball during the match (the third highest number of all players), won two header duels and his passing success rate reached 84%.

Match statistics and the last penalty missed

the xG measure, which indicates the probability of scoring a goal, clearly showed that Egypt was very lucky. Cameroon could have scored 1.08 goals and Egypt only 0.23, but this is not how football is played. Unfortunately, the excellent Ngadeu won’t be lifting another African championship trophy above his head.

Sources: WhoScored, Leon. C, 11tegen11_plots