Super Eagles’ star Odion Ighalo wrote his name in the history books of African football when he emerged as the highest goalscorer of the qualification phase of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with 7 goals in 6 games.
The former Watford striker has a chance to cement his name and status as a legend of the sport on the continent if he can replicate that performance and shoot Nigeria to glory to claim the golden boot at the tournament in Egypt. Ighalo opened his account at the AFCON Finals when he made his tournament debut against Burundi.
Ighalo came off the bench to score a sublime finish to hand Nigeria their first win at the tournament. He would be hoping to walk in the footsteps of Segun Odegbami, Julius Aghahowa, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Emmanuel Emenike who have claimed the AFCON Golden Boot award while playing for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
The 2019 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has reached it’s second stage as eight of the twenty-four teams that arrived in Egypt to compete for glory were knocked out at the group stage.
While tournament has produced some of the best displays of football that the continent has ever witnessed, there has not been a lot of goals with only sixty-eight goals scored in seventy-two games.
However, the race for Golden boot is on with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah going head-to-head for the gong awarded to the highest goal-scorer at the tournament and the two Liverpool players stand in the way of Ighalo.
Memorable past winners of the prize have included Rashidi Yekini, Patrick Mboma, Benni McCarthy, Jay-Jay Okocha and Samuel Eto’o, all of whom have gone on to become legends of African football.
The golden boot would also serve as a reminder to all participants that players can write themselves into the history books with a strong tournament. But who will be collecting the Golden Boot at the end of this year’s competition? Here’s how things stand so far…
| Player (Nation) | Goals | Assists |
| Adam Ounas (Algeria) | 2 | 1 |
| Carolus Andriamahitsinoro (Madagascar) | 2 | 1 |
| Mohamed Yattara (Guinea) | 2 | 0 |
| Sadio Mane (Senegal) | 2 | 0 |
| Mickael Pote (Benin) | 2 | 0 |
| Emmanuel Okwi (Uganda) | 2 | 0 |
| Ahmed El Mohamady (Egypt) | 2 | 0 |
| Jordan Ayew (Ghana) | 2 | 0 |
| Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo) | 2 | 0 |
| Michael Olunga (Kenya) | 2 | 0 |
| Mohamed Salah (Egypt) | 2 | 0 |
Who do you think will win the Golden boot for the 2019 edition of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations? Vote below
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