Manchester United are awaiting the return of Brian Mbeumo, Amad and Nousair Mazraoui, who are away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Manchester United won’t be facing the African Cup of Nations trio any time soon, but Ruben Amorim can at least bear in mind the fact that they are being carefully managed during international duty.
United have shown serious wear and tear in recent games, with Brian Mbeumo, Amad and Nousair Mazraoui all away in the AFCON, while Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt and Mason Mount are also all dealing with injuries. This period coincides with the busiest period of the season, forcing Amorim to adapt.
These adaptations paid off as the significantly changed team recorded a 1-0 win against Newcastle on Boxing Day. However, a 1-1 draw with Wolves, bottom of the Premier League, quickly dispelled any optimism and Amorim could be back to square one.
United lacked much inspiration in attack against Wolves and needed some wayward shooting from Joshua Zirkzee to find the back of the net. The Portugal national team coach would have liked to have called up Mbeumo and Amado.
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So he wouldn’t have been happy to see Morocco, Cameroon and Ivory Coast advance through the group stages of AFCON. Mazraoui, Mbeumo and Amad are now looking forward to the final in Morocco rather than Sunday’s match between United and Leeds.
Cameroon came from a 1-0 deficit to beat Mozambique 2-1 on New Year’s Eve, while defending champion Ivory Coast also made a comeback and defeated Gabon 3-2 to take first place in Group F. With this result, Cameroon will face South Africa in the last 16, while Ivory Coast will face Burkina Faso. Morocco had already booked a final match against Tanzania on Sunday.
Mid-season tournaments are always difficult to negotiate for club managers who wish for the health of their players but ultimately have selfish motives. They hope to return as soon as possible and without injury.
So Amorim would have been happy to see Mbeumo sent off at half-time in Cameroon’s win over Mozambique – not because of injury but to manage minutes. Meanwhile, Amad started on the bench against Ivory Coast and came on as a substitute in the 76th minute.
Morocco and Cameroon play their last 16 match on Sunday, when United travel to Elland Road to face Leeds, while Ivory Coast play their next game on Tuesday. This means, in theory, that if the national team loses, Mazraoui and Mbeumo could return to United in time for the trip to Turf Moor to face Burnley on Wednesday, January 7.
However, if Ivory Coast lose to Burkina Faso, Amad will not return until the FA Cup third round match against Brighton on Sunday 11 January at the earliest.
Amorim will therefore need to continue to have faith in United’s academy players, who are being given a rare opportunity to play for the first team. Jack Fletcher and Bendito Mantat came off the bench against Wolves, while Tyler Fredrickson received minutes in the win over Newcastle.
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