Tottenham: Victor Wanyama, Kenya Miss Out on AFCON
Victor Wanyama will remain with Tottenham after Kenya didn’t qualify for the African Cup of Nations once again.
January is four months away, but Tottenham and Mauricio Pochettino will have Victor Wanyama on their squad as Kenya missed out on qualifying for the African Cup of Nations.
With Kenya drawing 1-1 against Zambia on Sunday, it left the Harambee Stars bottom of Group E and suffering another major disappointment to their AFCON record.
This upcoming January will be the 31st edition which will be held in Gabon and out of the 31 tournaments, Kenya has failed to qualify an astonishing 24 times.
From 2006 to 2017, this will mark the sixth consecutive AFCON tournament that Kenya has missed out on. They weren’t able to qualify for five straight tournaments on two different occasions from 1962 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1982.
To make matters worse, Kenya opted to not enter three different times (1957, 1959 and 1984) and decided to withdraw in 1996.
Of the few times the Harambee Stars did qualify, they never made it out of the first round, being eliminated rather quickly: 1972, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2004.
All of this is to say that while Kenya will be disappointed to miss out on their 24th African Cup of Nations tournament, this will be a huge boost for Spurs as Victor Wanyama will be available when the season enters another schedule congestion.
Great away match,thank you fans for all the support during the campaign,we will take positives to our next assignments #AFCON2017
— Victor Wanyama (@VictorWanyama) September 4, 2016
Had Kenya managed to qualify for the sixth time in their national team’s history, Wanyama would have missed at least a month of club football.
The timing would not have been ideal as January is when the FA Cup begins play.
And assuming if Spurs manage to advance further in the League Cup and Champions League, there will more games to play until the end of the season.
More from Hotspur HQ
After making three starts since joining Spurs for £11 million, the 25-year-old has slotted seamlessly into Mauricio Pochettino’s starting lineup.
This doesn’t mean that it he and Eric Dier have made a good pair at central midfield, but individually, he has looked good.
With Mousa Dembélé nearing a return following Spurs’ visit to the Britannia Stadium against Stoke City, it will be interesting to see if Victor Wanyama remains as a starter in place of Eric Dier or if he moves to the bench.
If Pochettino were to look at Dier’s and Wanyama’s individual performances so far, Dier could make way for Mousa Dembélé.
This would be a blow to the 22-year-old England international but only temporarily.
To start the season, Kevin Wimmer has not made it onto the substitutes’ bench, seemingly suffering from some sort of injury.
Pochettino last discussed the issue as a “black eye” after Spurs lost to Juventus in their Australian pre-season tour. But no news since then
In Wimmer’s place Cameron Carter-Vickers has been a part of the seven-man bench.
If Victor Wanyama starts alongside Mousa Dembélé, Eric Dier could replace Carter-Vickers and fill the role as third-choice center-back while being Wanyama’s backup at defensive midfield.
This article originally appeared on 
