Profiles The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations is an opportunity for South Africa to exorcise several ghosts, not least the embarrassing manner in which the country contrived to deny itself qualification for the Gabon/Equatorial Guinea showpiece in 2012. Bafana Bafana has the players, the resources and the home support. But the team also has a tendency to frustrate its fans by failing to live up to expectations.
It will hope that new coach, Gordon Igesund’s tenure, has fostered self-belief and tactical maturity. Bafana could not have asked for a better fixture to kick off its campaign on home turf. Victory against minnow, Cape Verde in the tournament opener, should set the tone, get the partisan home support behind the team and put the host on its way to progress. However, Bafana can’t afford to underestimate the tournament debutantes. Any team that beats four-time AFCON champion, Cameroon to qualify for the finals, must be taken seriously.
Angola and Morocco are expected to provide much sterner tests for the 1996 champion than the Blue Sharks. In fact, dismissing Cape Verde’s claims, it should be a three-way fight for the two knockout berths. Palancas Negras may not have achieved much at an AFCON tournament, with a quarterfinal appearance been their best showing to date. However, the team will fancy its chances in a group of underachievers.
Morocco, champion in 1976 and regular at AFCON championships, is very unpredictable. Its fortunes hinge on which Morocco team shows up in South Africa. If the Moroccans can get their act together, they could make the battle for the quarterfinal places very interesting.
Group B: Ghana, Congo DR, Mali and Niger
Profiles The 2013 AFCON Group B looks deceptively straightforward. It is anything but just that. If one installs four-time champion, Ghana, as outright favourite to finish top considering the talents in the Black Stars and the strides the team has made in the last few years, then the squabble for second place could be a very interesting one. Many pundits will tip Ghana and Mali to progress to the knockout phase, but the ‘favourites’ will do well not to underestimate the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The manner of the Leopards’ qualification – 7–0 aggregate score over Seychelles in the first round, followed by a 5–2 aggregate score over Equatorial Guinea – means the team’s claims cannot be flippantly dismissed. In Claude Le Roy, the Leopards will have the most experienced coach at the tournament. A wily tactician and astute student of the African game, the Frenchman would be taking charge of a national team at an AFCON tournament for the seventh time. Can the DRC add to her 1968 and 1974 titles?
That is highly unlikely, but they sure could just be the team to write the Cinderella story of the tournament. Ghana goes to South Africa as one of the pre-tournament favourites. The Black Stars have the benefit of consistency of selection and could reap the rewards of a young team that is starting to mature. After losing in the semi-finals to eventual champion, Zambia in 2012, Ghana will hope to go all the way and few will bet against the nation. Mali is not a team to be trifled with.
The Eagles have been there in previous tournaments – losing finalists in 1972 and most recently, claiming bronze after beating Ghana in the third and fourth play-offs in 2012. This will be Niger’s second successive appearance at an AFCON tournament after making her debut in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. The best Menas can hope for is to improve on their previous showing after losing all three of their group matches in 2012.
Group C: Zambia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia
Profiles Forget the often trotted out “there are no minnows” refrain. Defending champion, Zambia, and former champion, Nigeria, pick themselves as favourites to progress from Group C, with a toss of the coin to decide the outright winner of the group. Should either Burkina Faso or Ethiopia record unlikely victories over the much-fancied aforementioned pair, the feats would firmly fall into the upset category. Zambia emerged from Gabon/Equatorial Guinea as the unlikeliest of champion.
Very few gave the team a prayer against the much-vaunted Ivory Coast going into the final. The Chipolopolo will, therefore, be determined to prove that the triumph, inspired by and dedicated to the memories of the squad that perished in a plane crash in 1993, was no fluke. Coach Herve Renard has put together a solid squad that combines collective work ethic and individual brilliance, the latter subservient to the former.
With a number of their players earning their corn in the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL), the Zambians are well placed to exploit familiar conditions to their advantage and do well at the tournament. Given the talent at her disposal, Nigeria should have won more than the two AFCON titles she has to her name.
Frustratingly for their supporters, the Super Eagles have gone into tournaments with their hopes already shattered, thanks to pre-tournament preparations bedeviled by internal squabbles, either over player payments, player egos, team selection or a general knack for pressing the self-destruct button. On her day, Nigeria can beat any team on the continent. If Coach Stephen Keshi can get his players focused and manage to instill a unity of purpose in his squad, the Eagles could be one of the tournament’s dark horses.
How well they do in the group stages will give an indication of their determination to right the wrongs of the past and shed their hara-kiri tendencies. Still, they should have enough to get out of the group if only on reputation alone. Publicly, both Burkina Faso and Ethiopia will reject the suggestion that they are at the tournament to make up the numbers.
Realistically, for all their determination, they simply do not have the quality to back their defiant tunes. But if there is to be an upset in the group, it is likely to be caused by Burkina Faso than Ethiopia. The Burkinabes have a reasonable AFCON pedigree and both Nigeria and Zambia will treat them warily and with respect. On the other hand, Ethiopia, which is former champion by the way, has the ‘whipping boys’ tag firmly nailed on her.
Group D: Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Algeria and Togo
Profiles Group D has some of the strongest teams at the 2013 edition of the Nations Cup. On paper, Ivory Coast is sure to progress to the knockout stages, with Algeria the slight favourite to win the squabble for the other qualifying berth. African football’s perennial underachiever, Ivory Coast, will be desperate to make amends for her defeat to Zambia in the 2012 AFCON final, which was ultimately decided on penalties. This could also be Didier Drogba’s last chance to claim the trophy.
The former Chelsea striker will be 36 years old when the next tournament kicks off in 2015, and as the captain of Les Elephants, he will undoubtedly be doubly determined to lead his country to victory in South Africa. The 2012’s losing finalists have an astonishing amount of quality at their disposal, with almost all of their players plying their trade in one of Europe’s top leagues. They have a good blend of experienced established campaigners and promising young stars to do battle in South Africa.
Sitting at number 15 on the latest FIFA world rankings, Cote d’Ivoire is the highest-placed African team at the tournament, while Algeria is not too far behind, sitting in 19th – sandwiched between France and Belgium. Algeria did not qualify for the 2012 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, but the team would be encouraged by the fact that it got the better of Ivory Coast in 2010. The Fennec Foxes defied the odds to progress to the quarterfinals, piping Mali to a second-place finish in Group A to set up a quarterfinal clash with Drogba’s men. They went on to record a 3–2 victory after extra time in Cabinda, with their reward a semi-final clash with eventual winner, Egypt in Benguela.
While Tunisia and Togo are not as high up on the questionable FIFA rankings as Ivory Coast and Algeria, they do have notable pedigree in the African showpiece. Tunisia, nicknamed the Eagles of Carthage, will be looking to improve on her performance in the 2012 edition, where she lost to Ghana in the quarterfinals. The North African outfit won the tournament for the first and only time in 2006 as host nation, defeating Morocco 2–1 in the final. However, Tunisia has struggled to replicate that feat in subsequent years.
She made it to the quarterfinals stage in the three of the four tournaments that followed, but finished bottom of her group in 2010. Togo must surely be considered the weakest team in the group due to her lack of meaningful pedigree in the competition. The recent news that top scorer, Emmanuel Adebayor, has retired again from international football, is also a major blow to her aspirations.
The Sparrow Hawks have never progressed from the group stages, while they withdrew from the competition in 2010 after an armed attack on their team’s bus left three people dead and nine others injured. Head Coach, Didier Six, has a relatively young squad at his disposal with only three of his players over the age of 30. However, the lack of high-profile stars could work in Togo’s favour. There is no doubt that the youngsters called upon to do duty for their country would relish the opportunity to make a name for themselves in South Africa.
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