World Cup: Ranking the top 20 African players set to miss out

Ed Dove ranks the top 20 African All-Stars who have failed to qualify for Qatar

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  20Amadou Haidara

  Haidara may be a Premier League player by the time the World Cup rolls around—both Manchester United and Leicester City have been linked with the RB Leipzig man—although he won’t be present in Qatar following Mali’s failure to down Tunisia.

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• 19Kelechi Iheanacho

  The first of several Nigeria players on this list, the forward was part of the Super Eagles squad that reached the last World Cup, but has taken his game to new heights in the interim.

  It would have been terrific to have seen his blossoming partnership with Victor Osimhen take the world by storm in Qatar.

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  18Patson Daka

  Another Leicester City star, Daka’s Zambia weren’t able to trouble Tunisia in Group B, instead finishing third in their pool behind even Equatorial Guinea.

  Can the young striker help Chipolopolo out of the doldrums in the coming years?

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  17Chancel Mbemba

  Part of the Democratic Republic of Congo side that finished third at the Nations Cup, World Cup qualification would have more than made up for failure to reach the Afcon earlier this year.

  Instead, Mbemba and his teammates must watch on after they were thumped by Morocco in their playoff.