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The biannual tournament that is the Africa Cup of Nations just loves stealing away valuable players and keeping them from their clubs for anywhere from two weeks to a month. And sure enough, Algeria have called up Faouzi Ghoulam, leaving Napoli in the talented hands of...Miguel Britos.
The Africa Cup of Nations finals, moved from Morocco to Equatorial Guinea, is set to begin on January 17. The tournament concludes on February 8. Considering the Fennec Foxes' performance in the World Cup and the ease with which they qualified for the AFCON finals, there's a good chance we won't see Ghoulam for a month.
On the other hand, Algeria are in the tournament's Group of Death, along with Ghana, South Africa and Senegal. So it's possible Ghoulam could return by the end of January.
Do we root for an upset, thus cheering against a fun, exciting Algeria side? Or do we back the Fennec Foxes despite them stealing the Napoli leftback? Or do we just cross fingers and hope that Napoli bring in reinforcements for the entire back line, come January?