Aston Villa: AFCON 2017 Updates on Ayew + Kodjia
By Josh Tonti
Aston Villa pair Jordan Ayew and Jonathan Kodjia are deep into group stage match play. How are our claret and blue doing in Africa’s preeminent international tournament?
Jordan Ayew and the Ghana Black Stars defeated Uganda by the score of 1-0 on Tuesday. Ayew started the match playing just off of main target forward Asamoah Gyan in Avram Grant’s 4-1-3-2.
Ghanasoccernet gave J. Ayew a 4.5/10 rating as their “Flop of the Match.”
In Group D, Ghana is sitting pretty on three points while Egypt and Mali battled to a goalless 0-0 draw. All three teams are ahead of Uganda who are stuck on zero despite a close loss.
Ayew and the Black Stars play Mali next before their penultimate match against Egypt – a match-up of Group D’s traditional heavyweights.
Highlights can be seen below from Ghana’s victory. Brother André Ayew scored the match’s only goal, a penalty.
Remember: the further Ghana advances, the further Aston Villa will be without Jordan Ayew. The same can be said for Jonathan Kodjia and the Ivory Coast.
Jonathan Kodjia started for the Ivory Coast in their opening goalless draw versus Togo. Alongside Kodjia, the Golden Elephants relied on a number of notable players, including: world class right back Serge Aurier, Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, and Hertha attacker Salomon Kalou.
Bournemouth’s Max Gradel relieved Kodjia after 83 hard fought minutes. Kodjia had a number of chances to open the scoring, but never quite found his footing – slipping on a clear opening to the net.
Next: Aston Villa Will Get Promoted With This Lineup
The Ivory Coast is tied for second place with Togo on one point. They play the group leaders, DR Congo, next before a final match with last place Morocco.
The Golden Elephants would be in a good position to advance should they collect at least 3, preferably four points from their final two matches. Unfortunately, that would delay Jonathan Kodjia’s recall to Aston Villa.