How close Son, Sarr and Bissouma are to qualifying for AFCON and Asian Cup knockouts

Tottenham Hotspur are without their captain, Heung-min Son, at the moment, as he takes part in the Asia Cup. Likewise, Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr are both away on international duty with their countries involved in the African Cup of Nations. Here’s the latest progress report on all three, and a look at their chances of making it out of the group stages.

Ange Postecoglou is no stranger to having players unavailable this season. Between an injury crisis, multiple suspensions, and now international duty, the Spurs boss has been unable to pick his best XI since the start of November.

Now, the Lilywhites could be without three key players until the middle of February, depending on how Heung-min Son, Yves Bissouma, and Pape Sarr perform at their respective international tournaments.

How likely are the Spurs players to progress to the knockout stages of AFCON and Asia Cup?

Here, we break down the latest displays from all three and see what their countries will have to do to make it out of the group stages and progress in the competitions.

Heung-min Son: The good news is that Son got himself on the scoresheet with a penalty for South Korea in the ninth minute. The bad news is that his country were only able to scrape a draw against Jordan with an injury-time equaliser. Son played the full 90 minutes.

South Korea now face Malaysia on Thursday, and will need to win to be certain of qualifying from Group E. Malaysia are yet to pick up a point and have not even scored a goal yet in the Asia Cup, so the odds are South Korea will win this game. However, if Jordan beat Bahrain in the other game in the group, Son would progress regardless.

Yves Bissouma: Started the game on the bench, and only made it onto the field after 84 minutes. Bissouma barely had enough time to make a difference, and his Mali side could only take a point in a 1-1 draw against Tunisia.

Mali are top of Group E with four points as it stands, but it’s a tight group, with both South Africa and Namibia on three points and Tunisia on two. Up next is Namibia on Wednesday, and a draw would be enough for Mali to progress. Defeat would leave Mali needing the other game in the group to be a draw to stand a chance of qualification.

Pape Sarr: Having been an unused substitute in Senegal’s first game, Sarr was back in the starting line-up and played a key role in a 3-1 win over Cameroon. The Spurs man worked hard and even got an assist after putting his body on the line to win the ball in the box. He was replaced after 74 minutes.

Senegal are now top of Group C with six points and have already booked their place in the next round. They face second-placed Guinea on Tuesday and will finish top of the group with a win or a draw.

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