Africa Cup of Nations 2012

Zambia answer the call of destiny

Jonathan Fadugba — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:58:00 GMT

When he saw the shot sail wide he could take it no more. Already on his knees with the rest of the team, hanging on in quiet desperation, all Didier Drogba could do was slump to the floor, a physically and emotionally exhausted heap. The game was surely up.

After 120 tense minutes of football that ebbed and flowed, two hours of suspense in which Lady Destiny seemed to sway indecisively between Ivory Coast and Zambia, Gervinho missed. Stoppila Sunzu stepped up to take the 18th penalty to win the game. He smashed it home. Zambia were champions, and with it one of the most remarkable tales of redemption football has ever told was complete.

What followed were moments of emotion pure enough to rival any in Africa Cup of Nations history. Joy, smiles, tears, glory, kinship, unity. James Chamanga pounded the air in sheer delight before weeping uncontrollably. Kennedy Mweene charged off, clearing the advertising board like an Olympic hurdler. Team coach Herve Renard carried Joseph Musonda, too wounded to walk having gone off injured after 10 minutes, to pray with his ecstatic teammates.

Just a few miles from the site at which 30 people – including 18 members of the national team – lost their lives in a tragic plane crash 19 years earlier, Christopher Katongo lifted the trophy for Zambia. The banner in the crowd read “Zambia Chipolopolo: Honouring the Gabon crash heroes in style. AFCON 2012 Champs.” Against the backdrop of a desperately painful past, this was a life-affirming tale of atonement.

The significance of the occasion was not lost on Zambia's players. After the game came tears of joy as players recognised their role in this incredible story. "The win is very emotional,” midfielder Isaac Chansa wept. “Yes it [the air crash] played a part, we believed that if the final will be in Libreville this will be ours this time around. Like the coach said, it was written somewhere that we will win it.”

Chansa fulfils destiny

Golden Boot winner Emmanuel Mayuka was near speechless. “A voice inside me told me that this was our day, that the cup would be ours. I don't know what to say. It's indescribable. Only God has made this possible. We thank him with all our hearts.”

To put this unforgettable triumph into context it is worth remembering just how unlikely it was first considered. Even without the likes of Egypt, Nigeria and Cameroon, Zambia had gone into this tournament as 50/1 outsiders. The 2-1 opening win over Senegal alone was described as 'stunning'. To reach the final therefore was an exceptional achievement. To win it, a fairytale.

"This is something enormous – something that appeared unrealisable before the competition began," said coach Renard, now a hero to the Zambian people in his second spell in charge. "I told them if we got to the final we would play in Gabon where the plane crashed. There was a special significance in that. They found the strength. I don't know where."

Renard is a shining example of a foreign coach that has embraced the history and background of his adopted nation. No sooner had the Frenchman received his winner's medal than he took it off his neck and placed it on that of Kalusha Bwalya, president of the Zambian FA and central figure of the 1993 team.

Renard and Bwalya embrace in triumph

Bwalya's dreams were finally fulfilled in Libreville and it was a touching and heartwarming moment to see him lift the trophy he spent decades pursuing in honour of his fallen team-mates. “He is the best Zambian player of the last century and he escaped the plane crash,” said Renard. “He was criticised for giving me the second chance. I dedicate the victory to him because he gave me the opportunity to coach.”

Fitting too was the presence of former Zambian president and godfather of independence Kenneth Kaunda, flown out especially for the final; a man who so enthusiastically followed football during his presidential reign between 1964 and 1991 that he often attended random lower-league matches out of sheer love for the game. Before the Chipolopolo nickname, Zambia were known as the 'KK XI' in tribute to their pioneering former leader.

Kaunda gets his hands on the trophy

In a presidential address, recently elected Zambian president Michael Sata was exuberant in his praise for the squad. “You have really honoured your departed colleagues who perished during the course of national duty off the coast of Gabon. To the coaches, team management, Football Association of Zambia executive and everybody involved, I say it is a job well done.”

Celebrating a job well done might be the only priority for many Zambians in the coming days and weeks. But when the dust settles they can anticipate an exciting future following the Chipolopolo. Not only are Zambia African champions, they also possess a team full of young, newly-successful talent with ample room for growth.

In defenders Chisamba Lungu and Sunzu, the graceful Nathan Sinkala and the highly gifted striker Mayuka there exists a spine that could well be in place for the next decade, and already they possess the invaluable experience of winning a major tournament. Others are emerging, like 17-year-old Evans Kangwa.

When appointed president of Zambia's FA in 2008 Bwalya said his dream was “that Zambia should one day be able to go to the World Cup.” Never has that goal seemed more attainable.

Perhaps we will see the Chipolopolo at Brazil 2014. What matters now though is that in 2012, in Gabon of all places, Zambia completed a journey so remarkable it felt touched by the hands of destiny.

ACoN Diary 8: An emotional end to a memorable tournament

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:42:00 GMT

There were two options. Well, three, but we didn't really want to shell out for yet another flight.

We could go east to Mongomo, stay the night there, cross the border first thing in the morning and then try to find a car or bus in Oyem to take us the remaining eight hours to Libreville. Or we could head south to Cogo, find a pirogue [a small boat] to take us across the estuary, and then try to find a car on the other side to Libreville. The second way was quicker, but the first way sounded like a more interesting journey – heading inland, rather than sticking to the coast, as most people in Equatorial Guinea do.

We reached our decision over lunch in the French Cultural Institute, but really it had been made earlier than morning as we changed money with a Lebanese trader on the sea-front in Bata. We'd asked if he knew any drivers who might have the relevant papers to take us all the way to the Gabonese capital.

He didn't, but as we discussed possible routes, somebody else in the shop piped up. He'd always go by Mongomo, he said, because his mother had died two years earlier when the pirogue she'd been travelling in had capsized. "Be careful of drunken boatmen," he warned.

So we headed east, through the jungle and the hills to Mongomo. Four times we crossed police checkpoints, but at each one a cursory chat about the football was enough to get through. Those who've spent time in Equatorial Guinea previously stress this is a major change of approach; that until recently, the police here were extremely aggressive.

Mongomo itself is extraordinary. It's the home town of Obiang Nguema, the president who seized power in 1979, which may explain why it features a huge modern floodlit basilica and a strange Italian-style central piazza in which a bell-tower is lit by ever-changing coloured lights. We stayed in what was by far the nicest African hotel I've been to: a five-star sprawl with a swimming pool and Spanish colonial architecture.

We went to the border early the next morning. Problem. You may remember from my last entry that I'd raced across the airport at Malabo to catch my connection; it turns out that by doing so I hadn't been registered properly by immigration. "We have a lot of problems with foreigners coming through the bush," the border guard said.

"Really? English foreigners?" asked the photographer I was travelling with. "And if he knew a way through the bush, why would he be here now?" For once, logic won out, and with the production of my boarding cards I was through.

We got a lift in the back of a pick-up on to Oyem, and found a driver there to take us on the final nine hours through the jungle-clad foothills of the central massif to Libreville. That relieved trip on the pick-up, through stunning countryside, was probably the most memorable part of the whole tournament.

Or at least, that was how it seemed at the time. But nobody who was at that final, nobody who felt the charge when Stopila Sunzu slammed in the winning penalty in the final, will ever forget it. Football doesn't give out sentimental favours; Zambia earned their success with dedication and discipline. But that didn't lessen the emotion of it.

Jonathan Fadugba: Zambia's remarkable journey makes them winners regardless

Zambia's remarkable journey makes them winners regardless

Jonathan Fadugba — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:30:00 GMT

Together they walked slowly to the coastline, singing in unison. Once there, and despite the entourage, a gentle ocean breeze and the swish of waves kissing sand were the only sounds. A team, representing a nation, stood in silence.

Those present laid flowers. A few said prayers, many shed tears. The coach Herve Renard stood solemnly behind his players and observed, a mix of pride, sorrow and conviction in his eyes. Kalusha Bwalya, the country's greatest ever player, laid a wreath. Zambia united in grief and remembrance.

After staying in Equatorial Guinea for the entire Africa Cup of Nations to date there was only one way Zambia could return to the scene of one of the worst disasters in African football history - the 1993 air disaster that took the lives of 30 people including members of Zambia's greatest football team. As finalists. So they did, upsetting Ghana to win the semi-final 1-0 thanks to a goal from Emmanuel Mayuka. A return to Gabon was secured.

The team travelled to Libreville and first port of call was the Beach Sablière, site of the 1993 air disaster that cost 30 players, crew and officials their lives off the coast of Gabon on April 27, on their way to Dakar to play Senegal in a 1994 World Cup qualifier.

Nearly nineteen years have passed since the day when, two minutes after the De Havilland C5 Buffalo military aircraft took off carrying the sporting jewels of a football-mad nation, it exploded off the coast of West Africa into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all on board.

This was a team that had promised Zambia the world. A thrilling, vibrant, exciting group of players that stunned football only years earlier when, at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Zambia highlighted its astounding promise by thrashing Italy 4-0, the Chipolopolo announcing themselves on the global stage.

Zambia had designs on a first Africa Cup of Nations trophy and a place at their first World Cup. But the tragic events of 27th April 1993 robbed them of their goal, robbed wives of their husbands and mothers of their sons.

As he laid flowers and answered questions to the gathered media on the beach, Kalusha Bwalya's face portrayed a quiet dignity and a deep underlying pain. The undoubted star of Zambia's memorable team, only a twist of fate stopped him from being on that plane. Due to club commitments, the then PSV player had made his own arrangements to travel to Dakar from Eindhoven. He was just leaving his house when he was informed of the news.

Since that dark Spring day, Bwalya has dedicated his life to honouring his brothers, by attempting to complete the journey they began together nearly two decades ago. His anguish has taken him on a lifelong mission to lead Zambia to the pinnacle of African football – a place they once seemed destined for.

"In 1993, the Chipolopolo came here to fulfill a promise,” he stated from the beach in Libreville. “They did not succeed, but instead gave up their lives for a gallant cause - the dream to bring glory to our country, mother Zambia."

"It is the same cause that brings us here today, the only difference is that we are alive and our former team mates are no longer here.”

Since 1993 Bwalya's drive has been relentless. He led a decimated, patchwork Zambian team to the 1994 Cup of Nations final just months after the crash. He was there when the 1994 World Cup dream finally faded. He played into his 40s, trying desperately to help Zambia qualify for a World Cup. He coached the national team. Now, as president of the Zambian Football Association (FAZ), his project is one game away from fulfilment.

“It keeps us busy every day,” Bwalya says. “We can't sleep. The generation that we lost, we have now found another generation that is probably ready to take over from where the fallen heroes passed away.”

“It's not the same; I always think you can't replace a human being with another human being, but I think the boys have done us proud.”

There is a reconnect between the 1993 team and the class of 2012, led by Renard and guided by Bwalya, that makes Zambia's unlikely path to their third Cup of Nations final, in Libreville, a truly extraordinary story.

It is a sentiment that Renard touched on after Zambia beat overwhelming favourites Ghana – the feeling that, above and beyond a story of unlikely sporting success, this is a tale of destiny.

"There's something written that we have to go to play to honour the memories of the Zambia national team that died in 1993," the Frenchman stated. One should not overlook what an emotional, heartwarming story this really is.

Renard has played a big part in Zambia's route to Libreville. You could see evidence of a promising team under his guidance in 2010 in Angola. There, the Chipolopolo were unfortunate to lose in the quarter finals to Nigeria on penalties, having shown glimpses of a developing side.

This tournament has proved that promise and for that Renard deserves great credit. In football, a coach's role is not only to choose players and devise tactics. He also sets the emotional tone of the team.

Renard has done this magnificently. In his crisply pressed white shirts he cajoles from the touchline, arms waving frantically to keep Zambia in shape. “Mayukaaaaaaaa” he cries like an army drill sergeant whenever his striker fails to defend from the front.

His tactics and team selections have been both innovative and effective, a key factor in Zambia coming this far. Bwalya's brave decision to sack Dario Bonetti and reinstate Renard on the eve of the tournament has paid off.

Zambia are now just one game away from realising their dream. It will not be easy. A formidable Ivory Coast, yet to concede a goal, stand in their way.

“It’s like we’re in front of one big mountain,” said Renard. “We have to climb it but we don’t have a helicopter and we don’t have a car. We just need to have a lot of courage and to think ‘yes, we can do it’. I’m one hundred percent sure we can do it.”

No matter what happens against Ivory Coast, Zambia are winners at this Africa Cup of Nations. For reaching the final, for their resolve, for the pain of the last nineteen years and for the character and strength of a nation that suffered and grieved, but that rebuilt and gave hope.

For the drive and courage of men like Kalusha Bwalya and for the memory of his brothers lost. "God has given us this opportunity to be here and now we must win this Africa Cup of Nations for the Zambia national team from 1993," said Renard.

Zambia have already shown they are winners. All that remains is to write it into history.

Tactical Preview: Michael Cox on the ACON final

ACoN Diary 7: A less than smooth journey which had a happier ending than Ghana's

Jonathan Wilson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:30:00 GMT

As Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed the decisive penalty in Sunday’s quarter-final in Libreville, a dreading realisation dawned: Mali v Ivory Coast was clearly a far less interesting semi-final than Zambia v Ghana.

I checked various websites for flights to Bata but without success, so began trawling the various agencies. Eventually, at around 1030 on Monday morning, I found one that could sell me a ticket to Bata, leaving at two that afternoon. Excellent, I said, I’d take it and texted a friend already in Bata to reserve me a hotel room. I was scheduled to arrive at 2000, I said. The hotel agreed to send a car.

The agency didn’t take cards, so I dashed outside to find an ATM. I found one, put in my card, and it swallowed it. I ran to the bank round the corner. “The guard will be here later. Come back on Friday.”

Fortunately, another journalist was with me and I borrowed money from him, jumped in a taxi, raced back to the house I was staying in, grabbed my bag and my spare credit card and dashed off to the airport.

I checked in fine. The flight was schedule to go first to Sao Tome, then on to Malabo, where I had to change for Bata. But when they began boarding just before 1400, the stewrard suddenly announced the plane was for Sao Tome only. “We’ll come back and take you to Malabo,” he said. I pointed out that I – and four others – had a connection to Bata, and he shrugged. There was a Chinese group who had to be brought back, and that took precedence over the schedule.

The plane took off at 1430. I watched it go, then checked online how far it was to Sao Tome. A little under 200 miles. Maybe 35-40 minutes of flying time. I tweeted my calculations. We needed the plane back by 1715 to have a chance of landing in Malabo before 1900. The woman next to me, who’d been fiddling with her Iphone, suddenly turned and stared at me. “Is that you?” she said, waving the phone at me. It turned out she was the Nigerian TV presenter Chisom Mbonu, and she followed me.

I was beginning to give up hope, but at 1714 a speck of white and green emerged from the clouds. We boarded and took off with remarkable haste (there were only eight of us). The grey Atlantic seemed to go on forever, but we landed at 1850. A bus was waiting to take us to the terminal. As we boarded, though, I saw another plane in the same livery boarding on the other side of the airfield.

I got off the bus and asked a steward. He confirmed that was the Bata flight. “Can I run?” I asked. He shook his head at which, from nowhere, a minibus appeared. “Bata?” yelled a cheery man in an orange vest. The five of us boarded.

“What about the bags?” somebody asked.

So we got off again and picked through the hold to find them, jumped back on the minibus and rattled across the centre of the airfield to the other plane. As I sat down, we began taxi-ing.

We touched down in Bata bang on 2000. “Exactly on time,” said the woman from the hotel who’d come to meet me. “Smooth as can be.”

Not quite. And nor was the simple progress many imagined Ghana would make. Zambia defended deep and well, and scored with their only shot to reach their first final since 1994.

Stats Zone semi-final preview: Ghana's weakness and Ivorians' threat

Michael Cox — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:55:00 GMT

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone to preview today's semi-finals at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations...

Zambia v Ghana (Wed 8 Feb, 4pm)
Zambia should line up in a basic 4-2-3-1 system against Ghana this afternoon, matching their opponents in the centre of the pitch.

Their midfield partnership functions in an interesting way. Nathan Sinkala can also play as a centre-back, and therefore plays extremely deep in midfield, picking up the ball from his own defenders and calmly distributing the ball out to the full-backs. He rarely ventures into the final third of the pitch.

Isaac Chanca plays alongside him but has much more licence to get forward. He has the freedom to drift to either flank, and also attempts difficult through balls on the edge of the box. It’s very similar to the way Ghana play in midfield, with Anthony Annan sitting and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu driving forward; we could see two identical systems doing battle at Estadio de Bata.

Ghana start the game as firm favourites, but one area they need to improve upon is their distribution from the goalkeeper. Adam Larsen Kwarasey basically had the right idea in the quarter-final win over Tunisia – most of his deliveries were short out to the back four, helping Ghana get the ball forward gradually, and retaining possession.

But a few times he was tempted into kicking the ball long – and Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan is hardly the greatest aerial threat. The diagram shows how unsuccessful these balls were, confirming the feeling that Kwarasey is better off being short with his distribution.

Mali v Ivory Coast (Wed 8 Feb, 7pm)
On the face of it, there was nothing for Ivory Coast to be too disappointed with in their 3-0 win over Equatorial Guinea. They took the lead in the first half and never looked like giving it up, and were comfortable all the way through the game.

But their performance wasn’t as impressive as the scoreline suggests. Ivory Coast continue to have a problem with creativity, and although they managed 11 shots on goal, only five of those chances were actually created themselves – they relied on mistakes for the rest of their attempts.

Even the one assist they did manage was from a set-piece, and this will be a key part of their approach against Mali. The Malians need to be disciplined in their third and prevent conceding free-kicks – Didier Drogba thrives on crosses and is going for the Golden Boot.

The one Ivorian who did provide a spark in open play was Max Gradel, the former Leicester and Leeds winger who played on the left of the front three alongside Didier Drogba and Gervinho. Salomon Kalou will be hopeful of regaining his starting spot for the semi-final, and Francois Zahoui has rotated his players throughout the tournament, but Gradel deserves to continue in the side after his fine performance.

The obvious strength in his game is his dribbling ability, and against Equatorial Guinea he dropped very deep to pick up the ball before turning and running at the right-back Kily. He'll try the same thing again here, and although Mali right-back Drissa Diakite won all four of his attempted tackles in the quarter-final against Gabon, he also conceded seven free-kicks. With the aforementioned Ivorian threat from set-pieces, he needs to be more disciplined today.

More ACoN analysis from Michael Cox:
Fri 3 Feb Deep forwards, midfield runners and the narrowest team
Mon 30 Jan Botswana's goal peppered, Boussifi makes it count & Pitroipa's dribbling problem
Thu 26 Jan Ivory Coast fail to utilise Yaya as young Lass fails to show class
Fri 20 Jan How will Premier League strikers fare at the Africa Cup of Nations?

Tears of despair for Gabon, but beaten hosts still have a bright future

Jonathan Fadugba — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:58:00 GMT

After the laughter comes tears. The star of the show stood emotionless, a mix of resignation and yearning in his eyes. A stadium held its breath. Belief melted into hope.

Seydou Keita paced slowly towards the penalty spot for one last dance with the keeper, ball cradled in his arms. Was there to be one final twist? A reprieve for a country that had embraced its role as co-hosts so joyously?

Not this time. With ice in his veins Keita slotted the penalty low past Didier Ovono. The dream was over.

As the Mali's players darted off wildly in different directions around the pitch to dance, sing and celebrate, the emotion became too much for Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. After a 1-1 draw, extra time and nine well-taken penalties, his was the only miss.

So often the Panthers' saviour, a hesitant run up and shot was saved by Soumbeyla Diakite to send Gabon out. Overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment, Aubameyang burst into tears, inconsolable.

Huddled around him, despondent teammates embraced their number nine. From the Mali bench, the winning coach Alain Giresse, formerly in charge of Gabon, went to offer comforting words to former colleagues. Gradually the stadium emptied out, Libreville no longer the party capital of the world but one plunged into sorrow.

The stadium emptied but Aubameyang remained, unable to leave. In the end his father, Pierre Aubameyang, walked onto the pitch and, in a moment of pure emotion, held his tearful son in his arms. No doubt somewhere amid all the gentle sympathising and consoling, the words of encouragement for his son would also involve passing on his own experiences of such deep disappointment. Aubameyang senior was part of the last Gabon team to make the quarter finals of an Africa Cup of Nations – in 1996, when they lost on penalties to Tunisia after another 1-1 draw.

The sadness etched on Aubameyang's face in those moments offered stark contrast to the sunglass-wearing, smiling young man who arrived at the stadium a national hero only hours earlier. At AFCON 2012, Aubameyang has been the shining star of a Gabon team that has thrilled its people for two unforgettable weeks.

His three goals, explosive pace and all-action style only further endeared the Saint-Etienne forward to a growing legion of fans. It is no coincidence that, up in the presidential box, the first lady chose to wear the number nine on her Gabon shirt. Market stalls have been selling underwear with 'Aubameyang' emblazoned across the front, enough to put any lady in the mood, presumably. The handsome, stylish, mohawked striker has become the nation's pin-up boy.

Aubameyang has been a revelation here, but when asked whether his growing international profile might not affect the youngster, his club manager Christophe Galtier was unflustered. "Knowing the man, I am not worried at all. He has his head on his shoulders and the good fortune to have a father who had a long and successful career."

Sad as it is in the moment, the miss may well benefit the 22-year-old, formerly on the books at Milan, in the long term. His undoubted skill and trickery offer promise of a real player in the making. "Aubame is confirming all the hopes we have of him," Galtier had previously remarked, and that was certainly the case in Gabon. But there is an element of the complacent and overly flashy about Aubameyang at times.

After all, this is a player who earlier in the season, after a few weeks of outstanding form in France, had the Superman logo shaved into his hair. The crushing disappointment felt here may remind him in future that success can be fleeting and to get too carried away can be dangerous. An exciting career awaits if lessons are learnt in Libreville.

For Gabon, failure to advance past the quarter finals provides a sad end to a tournament they truly graced, offering us all such wonderful entertainment and joy. The 3-2 win over Morocco to seal qualification, by way of a 97th minute Beckham-against-Greece-esque free kick from Bruno Zita Mbanangoye, is already the game of the tournament if not one of the best international matches in years, an incredible denouement to a breathtaking game.

Disappointment will linger for now, but from the flames of their 2012 campaign a phoenix may well yet emerge. Gabon have a young, exciting team with a promising future and can now look to challenge again in 2013 with renewed vigour drawn from rich experience. "We lacked a bit of luck," Gabon coach Gernot Rohr commented. "I want to congratulate my players because they gave everything, and when you give everything you can leave with your head held high."

There are in fact certain similarities with the experiences of Gabon in Libreville and another African team that sprinkled stardust on a competition before exiting painfully at the quarter final stage not so long ago – Ghana. They dazzled, they stared into the face of history but ultimately they faltered; right down to the moving tears of a star player whose decisive penalty miss terminated the dream. That young team recovered pretty well in the end and are now one game away from a final at this same stadium in Libreville.

Gabon may well look on on Sunday and hope a similarly bright future awaits a group of players who did their country proud.

ACoN Diary 6: Jungles, local drunks and monkey sanctuaries

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:23:00 GMT

Want to know more about Equatorial Guinea and Gabon? You're in the right place. Here's part six of Jonathan Wilson's Africa Cup of Nations diary

The guide-book doesn’t offer much in the way of tourist attractions on Bioko, the island part of Equatorial Guinea. In fact, it suggests just one thing: the monkey sanctuary near Moka.

So, taking advantage of some spare time between the group stage and the quarter-finals – and of a photographer with a car and the need for some feature shots – I at last headed into the interior.

The jungle that edges the coast road from Malabo to Luba is the closest I’ve come to the stereotypical jungle of children’s adventure books.

In Borneo, India and other parts of Africa I’ve always found it a little disappointing, like British forests but more so, the thick canopy meaning all that can survive are the tallest trees and a scattering of scrub. Here, though, in what I assume is secondary forest, the vegetation is thick and lush, and dominated by banana and plantain. Walking through it would be impossible.

As we turn inland, and twist and turn our way up Mount Cameroon, the forest thins. Pockets of low cloud lie in hollows, so the effect is a bit like parts of the Lake District, only 30 degrees hotter. We get to Moka, but there’s no sign for any monkey sanctuary.

Following the road, we end up in a half-bit compound surrounded by orange concrete walls. That should have been a warning: the president, Obiang Nguema, loves orange concrete.

A soldier turns us back, telling us to present ourselves at the local mayor’s office to get “authorisation”, although for what is unclear. On our way, we saw a new-built road off to the left. Checking the soldier wasn’t following us we turned off, and almost immediately found at another junction.

The road to the right stopped after a few yards, so we went left, and found ourselves on an implausibly straight stretch of flat tarmac. At the end was what appeared to be a roundabout, but when we got there turned out to be a helipad. That was when it dawned on us that what we’d thought was a road was a landing strip.

A little later, a construction worker confirmed the president was having another residence built up there at the top of the mountain.

We never did find the monkey sanctuary. Back in the village various people admitted it existed (once we'd got over the confusion of me saying 'monjes' - 'monks' when I meant 'monos' - 'monkeys') but everybody seemed very concerned we should have “papers”. It would take an hour to walk there, somebody said, and offered to take us to see some waterfalls instead.

He then offered some horses and, when we turned that down, said if we came back at the weekend he would take us to a lake. In the end, we gave up, and settled for a couple of beers in the local bar where a local drunk insisted Equatorial Guinea would beat Ivory Coast on Saturday. They didn't, but were comprehensively outplayed in a one-sided 3-0.

Stats Zone quarter-final preview: deep forwards, midfield runners and the narrowest team

Michael Cox — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:33:00 GMT

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone to analyse the latest action from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations...

Zambia v Sudan (Sat 4 Feb, 4pm)
Sudan are one of the narrower sides in the competition, as shown by the diagrams from their 2-1 win over Burkina Faso in their final group game.

The narrowness can be observed in two distinct ways. First, with the exception of one corner, all their chances were created by a pass played from a central position, including goalkeeper Akram El Hadi Salim’s blatant hoof down the pitch for the second goal, finished nicely by Mudather El Tahir.

Second, they barely ever cross the ball. From the 12 crosses they attempted against Burkina Faso, six were from corners. In other words, they only attempt a cross from open play once every 15 minutes, so Zambia should primarily be concerned with keeping it tight down the middle of the pitch.

Ivory Coast v Equatorial Guinea (Sat 4 Feb, 7pm)
Equatorial Guinea’s Juvenal – full name Juvenal Edjogo-Owono Montalbán – is really a Spanish player. Born in the Catalonian city of Sabadell, he joined his hometown club at the age of 29 in 2008.

His style of play is typical for a player from that region. He’s an excellent passer, possibly a natural No.10, but spends much of the game coming deep to get the ball before spraying it across the pitch for team-mates.

He’s also stormed forward to have plenty of shots in his three matches so far, and is probably the biggest threat to the physical Ivorian midfield three of Cheick Tiote, Yaya Toure and Didier Zokora.

Gabon v Mali (Sun 5 Feb, 4pm)
Modibo Maiga plays an interesting role for Mali, who take on Gabon this weekend. The forward, who was heavily linked with Newcastle last summer but has remained at Sochaux, plays as a deep-lying forward but isn’t really based around creativity in the traditional sense – he plays more of a hold-up role, laying the ball off to midfield runners.

FEATURE Five to watch at ACoN 2012 (including Modibo Maiga)

The diagrams below show that a very high proportion of his passes are played backwards rather than forwards, although they can be highly effective – he created four chances with pull-backs in the 2-1 win over Botswana.

Ghana v Tunisia (Sun 5 Feb, 7pm)
As at the World Cup two years ago, Ghana seem set up to play on the counter-attack, and like to work the right-hand side of the pitch more than the left. On that side they have Andre Ayew, a true forward rather than the more functional player on the other wing (either box-to-box midfielder Sulley Muntari or full-back Samuel Inkoom are used on the left).

Furthermore, their right-sided central midfielder, Emmanel Agyemang-Badu, breaks forward much more than the left-sided holder, Anthony Annan, does. Badu’s Udinese teammate Kwadowah Asamoah, the central attacking midfielder, also likes to move across to the right.

FEATURE Five more to watch at ACoN 2012 (including Kwadwoh Asamoah)

In their previous game against Guinea, they only managed to create three chances in the game, but all came from the right. This means Tunisia’s left-back will be in for a big test. Ammar Jemal started Tunisia’s first game of the tournament there, but Khalil Chemmam was used in the win over Gabon. His dashboard reveals a fine performance, and he’ll need to replicate that on Sunday.

More ACoN analysis from Michael Cox:
Mon 30 Jan Botswana's goal peppered, Boussifi makes it count & Pitroipa's dribbling problem
Thu 26 Jan Ivory Coast fail to utilise Yaya as young Lass fails to show class
Fri 20 Jan How will Premier League strikers fare at the Africa Cup of Nations?

ACoN Diary 5: Prohibitive ticket prices taking gloss off a great tournament

Jonathan Wilson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:32:00 GMT

The fifth installment of Jonathan Wilson's diary of the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon

Angola 2010 increasingly looks like a nadir. It could hardly have begun worse, with the gun attack on the Togo team, but even if that atrocity hadn’t happened, it would still have been a miserable tournament.

There was the farce of the opening game, when Angola, as though to confirm every stereotype about naive African defending and shocking African goalkeeping, squandered a four-goal lead in the final 11 minutes (and, yes, I am personally bitter about that; I’d written 11 pieces on the shooting before the game even started, and had five match reports to file within 20 minutes of the final whistle).

Transport was nightmarish, costs prohibitive, acquiring visas all but impossible: Angola was the tournament in which CAF showed quite clearly that the fans meant nothing to them. And then there was the football which, Egypt, Ghana, and to an extent Zambia aside, was dismal: negative, boorish and just not very good. (Actually, personally, I had quite a good time, sitting in a nice guest house in Benguela and eating a lot of seafood, and the press-box fight between Algerian and Egyptian journalists in the semi-final was one of the highlights of my career, but still...)

In most regards, this tournament has been better. The football has been, generally, open and attacking and if Ivory Coast and Ghana have been a little cautious, well, that’s understandable for favourites. Malabo, at least, feels a safe city – I’ve happily wandered about at night in a way I wouldn’t have in Luanda; and the prices are nothing like as ludicrous as Angola.

But where the tournament has fallen down – again – is in attracting fans. This is a perennial Cup of Nations problem.

Part of the issue is geographical: hold the tournament in west Africa or north Africa, and it becomes far easier for travelling fans with distances more manageable for large groups of teams: in Mali in 2002, for instance, thousands of Ivory Coast fans crossed the border to Sikasso.

The issue is also partly financial: hosting the tournament in oil-producing countries tends to mean hotels are aimed at wealthy businessman, placing them out of reach of all but the richest fans. And visas were at least as hard to acquire as they were for Angola, putting off significant numbers of Europeans who might have travelled.

But actually, the real issue isn’t travelling fans. The real issue is the lack of local people turning up for games not involving the hosts. Again, this isn’t something new, but it really is something CAF must address. The suggestion that Equatorial Guinea and Gabon aren’t real “football countries” is only part relevant – the Cup of Nations is by home way the biggest public event staged in Malabo; people should be turning up out of interest if nothing else.

Price, clearly, is then the major problem. The cheapest tickets cost 5000 Central African Francs (around £6.25) which represents around a week’s wages. Of course people aren’t showing up. Hicham El-Amrani, he general secretary of CAF, when pressed on the subject, said, There is a system of sale that needs to be followed and respected. his is the flagship tournament - we cannot just give away tickets.”

But why not? Why not, the day before a match, place unsold tickets on sale for, say 100 francs for a joint adult and child ticket? That would, surely, cover administration costs, would ensure games aren’t played before empty seats, and would make the tournament a spectacle for all local people, not just the rich ones.

Why Senegal failed to shine at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations

Jonathan Fadugba — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:25:00 GMT

To really grasp the nature of Senegal's spectacular failure at this Africa Cup of Nations you need only look at the teams who finished above them in Group A. For Senegal to finish below Equatorial Guinea is surprising, unfathomable even. But to finish below Libya, given the vast gap in quality and wildly differing paths they travelled before meeting in Bata, is astonishing.

Consider it for a moment. Libya is a team that had to overcome political divisions, a full-scale, bloody revolution, a qualifying campaign in which they could only play one game at home due to the conflicts, the suspension of their domestic league and – as if all that wasn't enough - the death of their team doctor the night before a crucial qualifier.

They have no globally renowned stars, the structure of their league leaves much to be desired and until recently transfers abroad were heavily restricted by the now deceased Colonel Gadaffi.

Compare with Senegal, who boast millions of pounds worth of talent and three of European football's most prolific strikers over the past year, and it is truly remarkable that Libya managed to beat them 2-1, let alone finish above them over three games.

Such an achievement is to Libya's great credit. To Senegal's great shame, they finish bottom of a group they were supposed to stroll through on their way, in many people's eyes, to lifting the trophy itself.

Why, then, have Senegal failed, again?

Effectively Senegal's shortcomings come down to a mixture of three factors...

1) Bad luck

It's never nice to be too critical, so we might start with the positives. Senegal are young enough to learn from this experience and they should come back stronger. Very few players in the squad are over 30 and, used intelligently, the painful memory of AfCON 2012 might spur the Teranga Lions on to greater things. All men make mistakes but only wise men learn from them, to paraphrase Winston Churchill.

Senegal were also unfortunate that, rather than smile on them, the gods preferred to belch out an almighty torrential rainstorm before the deciding game against Equatorial Guinea on matchday two.

Heavy rain is football's great leveller. Bad pitches don't make bad players better, but they certainly make good players worse, and despite Equatorial Guinea's inspired recent displays there can be little debate their players are of inferior technical quality to the Senegalese.

"The state of the pitch was not good but I’m not trying to seek excuses for our defeat,” the coach Amara Traore commented. On a better, less rain-sodden surface, Senegal might have found the fluidity needed to scrape victory and progress from there.

With the niceties out of the way now we can sink our teeth into assessing where this sorry campaign really went wrong.

2) Tactical naivety

While being a youthful team has its advantages, it isn't all sunshine, lollipops and Supergrass soundtracks. The age old debate of youth versus experience reared its head once again here and in Senegal's case an absence of the latter was both evident and costly.

Traore, a relatively inexperienced coach whose only previous managerial role was at ASC Linguère, appeared to go through the tournament with no clearly defined strategy for his team, stumbling from formation to formation almost randomly.

They began the competition with a 4-3-3 against Zambia, but any gameplan was discarded almost immediately when, 2-0 down after 28 minutes and shellshocked, Traore ripped up the scrapbook, took a midfielder off and threw on another striker. It wasn't quite 4-2-4, it wasn't quite 4-3-3. It wasn't quite anything. They improved but still fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Against Equatorial Guinea, Traore switched to a more conventional 4-4-2 albeit with a striker, Dame N'Doye, out wide. It changed little. The lions still lacked teeth and were surprisingly limp against the co-hosts' rigid defensive shape. In their final game Traore rotated again and Senegal, already defeated and in disarray, played a dishevelled 4-2-4 with a centre back as a holding midfielder and another striker out wide.

In attack there was also zero continuity. Mamadou Niang, Demba Ba and Moussa Sow started the first game. N'Doye joined them inside a half hour. Traore then tried Ba, Papiss Cisse and N'Doye out wide, and finally Niang, Ba, Souleymane Camara and Deme N'Diaye.

All this portrayed a team without structure and a coach without answers. By comparison the more experienced Marcos Paqueta was almost professorial on the touchline, his tweaking of Libya's tactics and calm authority a stark contrast. Traore will learn from all this for next time – if afforded a next time by an impatient football federation who may smell blood.

This leads to my final point which, scratching beneath the surface of Senegalese football, reveals a quite obvious and simple truth.

Senegal really are just not that good.

3) Hype versus reality

This applies both to the current team and to Senegal as a football nation in general. Senegal have been overestimated at this Cup of Nations. Blinded by the delights – the Bas, Cisses and Sows in attack – glaring weaknesses in other areas were overlooked.

Put simply, Senegal's team is all sugar and no flour. The strikers can be wonderful but the team desperately lacks midfield guile and creativity. “In the medium and long term, games are always lost in central midfield,” the Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni once said, but the Teranga Lions' midfield is both porous and unimaginative. On more than one occasion Traore resorted to using strikers as wingers and Senegal struggled to breach defences. When they did, their crossing was dreadful.

Stats Zone analysis illustrates this.

Strikers like Ba and Sow are penalty box players who thrive on good service. In the Premier League, taking statistics until December Ba was one of the worst strikers in the top seven in terms of minutes per chance created. Offer him good service however and 14 league goals show how ruthless he can be.

In Equatorial Guinea this service never came. Ba received the ball only twelve times in the opposition penalty area in three games – six times against Zambia, six against Equatorial Guinea and not once against Libya. By comparison, Didier Drogba received the ball in the opposition penalty area almost as many times in just one game, against a Sudan side who were subsequently praised for their compact defensive shape...

If your team is blessed with clinical finishers, providing good supply is as vital as it is logical. But Senegal's bitty midfield offered next to nothing, a fact not helped by constant rotation. When Birmingham City's holding midfielder Guirane N'Daw is your most creative outlet, as he was against Zambia, you've got problems.

This leads to a deeper issue. Truth is, Senegal have never been a traditional power in African football. There is no golden era, no history of success. They've never won a Cup of Nations, are one of only four teams in the last twenty years to host a Nations Cup and not at least reach the semi-finals, their recent finals record is dire (won none, drawn two, lost six) and administrative problems and in-fighting are rife.

Never a shrinking violet, El-Hadji Diouf had his say after elimination was sealed.

“The Senegal team has no soul,” he stated. “The team is weak, or let me say doesn’t (sic) worth the big name pundits give to it and the true status has just been revealed.”

“I predicted the failure of Senegal at the 2012 Afcon and it has happened. The FA people are jealous of Senegal’s 2002 generation. They don’t want to associate us with the team. They have mixed politics with football in Senegal and things will never change for good for now.”

Strong words. And while one could question the extent to which Diouf is merely using a poison tongue to further his own agenda, on the evidence of Senegal's 2012 Nations Cup campaign, he may have a point.

Botswana's goal peppered, Boussifi makes it count & Pitroipa's dribbling problem

Michael Cox — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:09:00 GMT

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone to analise the latest action from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations...

Jonathan Pitroipa is by far Burkina Faso’s most famous attacking player, although in this tournament he’s seemingly well aware of that, and has been trying to shoulder too much of the creative burden.

The Rennes player has spent much of the tournament trying to dribble past players, with mixed success. In the two matches he’s played, against the Ivory Coast and Angola, he’s completed 10 of the attempted 19 take-ons, with the success rate dropping the closer he gets to goal. He’s clearly a talented player and specialises at running with the ball, but he might be better off having more faith in his teammates in the final third.

You won’t find a more efficient striking performance than that of Ihab Boussifi in Libya’s 2-1 win over Senegal.

Boussifi only received the ball twice in the penalty box and only attempted two shots, but converted both chances to secure a famous victory, and confirm Senegal’s early exit.

Like Abubakr al Abaidy, highlighted last week for his good display from full-back (http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/africacupofnations2012/archive/2012/01/26/ivory-coast-fail-to-utilise-yaya-as-young-lass-fails-to-show-class.aspx), Boussifi plays for Libyan club Nasr – if this is a fair reflection of the talent at the club based in Benina, it might be worth scouts checking out their other players.

Gabon’s thrilling late win over Morocco will go down as one of the best games of the tournament, and was also notable for some extraordinary tackling statistics – 80% were successful, with the vast majority occurring in the defending side’s half of the pitch.

It’s surprising that five goals were scored in a game where the defending sides were so precise with their tackling. Morocco’s left-back Badr El Kaddouri was the most prolific tackler, completing all seven of his attempted tackles – he’s responsible for the line in the top-left of Morocco’s tacking screen.

Finally, Botswana’s terrible display against Guinea resulted in a 6-1 defeat, likely to be the largest win of the tournament. Even more shocking than the concession of six goals was the fact Botswana allowed Guinea an amazing 30 shots on goal – one every three minutes.

Defending is clearly a real problem for Botswana – they let Ghana have 19 attempts in the previous game. However, mere qualification for the first time in their history is a huge achievement for the side, and they should be able to use this experience to their benefit in future.

Stats Zone, the app from FourFourTwo powered by data from Opta, is available now at the iTunes App Store

Click here to get the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone

ACoN Diary 4: Eq. Guinea on the rise, a near death experience and a wild rat supper

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:22:00 GMT

The great Jonathan Wilson continues his diary of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon...

No rats were harmed during the making of this blog. Well, not by us, anyway...

It was just spitting on to rain when we stopped by the beach. I hopped out of the car and wandered through a line of palm trees towards the sea. As I did so, I heard a shout of warning and paused.

Something brushed past by face and shoulder and the sand to my right reverberated with a loud thump. I glanced down, and there in the sand was a branch, perhaps 20 feet long and heavy enough to have buried itself four inches deep. Had I been standing 18 inches to my right, it would have clouted me full on.

A mate of mine has just returned from a month embedded with the US army in Afghanistan; last week, I came considerably closer to death than he did.

As we arrived, so too did about half a dozen fishing boats, canoes really. A Spanish journalist negotiated with one of the men, and we bought a long thin fish and several sardines, then paid one of the fishermen's wives to cook them for us. As we wandered over to a rough wooden table, we passed another local man grilling some meat on a grill. I didn't recognise it, and it was covered in writing yellow larvae. "Wild rat," the man explained. "But there's some insects got inside it."

Further research revealed wild rat is common fare in Equatorial Guinea. I was quite happy to stick to our fish, although when it arrived, it turned out that the bones were blue-green. Some Googling when I got back to the hotel suggested it was probably a garfish, but whatever it was, it was much, much nicer than the rat looked.

We then headed on round the bay to Luba, a small town on the south-west corner of Bioko, the island part of Equatorial Guinea. It was built by Maximiliano Jones, a slave-trader from Sierra Leone who sold his own brothers. A bust of him still stands in the town, while a street and the main hotel are named after him (although Jones, of course, is pronounced "hoh-ness" round here).

The hotel itself is painted pale blue and bears a striking resemblance to the hotel where Jack Nicholson holes up in the Antonioni film The Passenger. A fantastically clear river runs by it. The water is so pure that despite being 10 or 12 feet deep in places, you can read the make of the tyres and other detritus among the weeds on the bed. A little nearer the sea, as it shallows out, children play and women do the laundry.

It's not clear if it's there that Equatorial Guinea were supposed to be staying before their game against Zambia in Malabo, but when they got to Lubo, they decided they didn't fancy it and moved to the resort of Sipopo, where Ivory Coast are based. That, if nothing else, demonstrates the rising status of the side: a little over a week ago, the $1 million win bonus put up by the president's son looked a desperate gamble; now somebody - presumably the government - is happily paying for them to stay in luxury.

Jonathan Fadugba: Tunisia - the team to beat at ACoN 2012?
Michael Cox: Ivory Coast fail to utilise Yaya, Lass fails to show class
Tom Legg: Ghana up and running but still a work in progress

Tunisia – The team to beat at ACoN 2012?

Jonathan Fadugba — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:30:00 GMT

For a team that could just as easily be sitting at home watching on TV, they made a pretty good start.

Tunisia were seconds away from going the way of Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria in this competition last October. With Malawi 2-1 up against Chad going into stoppage time, the South East African nation were about to cause another Africa Cup of Nations upset by sneaking to the finals alongside Botswana.

Tunisians everywhere could only watch events in N'Djamena and pray. Then, at the last moment, those prayers were answered. In the 94th minute, Karl Marx Barthelemy glanced home an equaliser for Chad to break Malawi hearts and send Tunisia to their tenth straight Cup of Nations finals.

With Ghana and Ivory Coast overwhelming favourites, Tunisia went under the radar in the build-up to this Cup of Nations. A pre-tournament 0-0 draw with Catalonia did little to fan flames of enthusiasm, before a 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast almost doused them completely, their coach Sami Trabelsi describing it as simply “not good at all.”

“The team still has a lot to do with the midfield, attack and control of both ball and pitch,” said Trabelsi.

Nevertheless, Tunisia's 2-1 opening game win over Morocco in Group C's North African derby has now given a nation inspired by the Arab Spring, a revolution they sparked, real hope that maybe 2012 will be the year of the Carthage Eagle.

Tunisia's players celebrate during their victory over Morocco

The game was a victory for collective over individual. For Morocco, defeat offers a harsh reality check after their coach Eric Gerets had spent time talking up his team's chances of going all the way. Defeat to the old enemy Tunisia, their bête noir, by the same scoreline as in the 2004 Nations Cup final, is a worrying setback.

For Tunisia, on the other hand, victory provides a welcome shot in the arm. “It's a precious win” Trabelsi raved. “It's good to have started this CAN (Africa Cup of Nations) with a win, because the last few CANs we started badly,” said Zouhaier Dhaouadi, who played an influential role down the left hand side of midfield, coming close to scoring with a shot that struck the post. “We want to play a big role in this competition and the first objective is to qualify.”

Their captain Karim Haggui, a member of that 2004 side, went further still. “Tunisia's new generation wants to write its own history and looking at the potential of these young players that we've got, I really hope we can write it at this Nations Cup.”

Despite Morocco's dominance of both possession and chances, it was Tunisia that provided the composure in Libreville, playing with an efficiency and a maturity that bodes well. Morocco had 67% of the possession and produced 16 attempts at goal but it was their North African rivals who took their chances, with five of theirn six shots on target and two ending in goals.

Defensively, Tunisia were also very impressive. The centre back partnership of Haggui and Toulouse's Aymen Abdennour showed aggression and spirit, while behind them Aymen Mathlouti made some excellent saves to deny Marouane Chamakh - who continues to misfire - and Mbark Boussoufa.

Abdennour and Haggui both seem to have been carved from the same slab of rock-hard Tunisian granite – two rugged, gutsy centre halves. As we can see using Stats Zone, they won 100% of the tackles they both went in for while nipping in to make 11 interceptions in and around the area. Indeed the below dashboard shows just how good Tunisia were in the tackle, completely dominating Morocco in that aspect of the game:

As we learnt from Egypt over the past three tournaments, through players like Wael Gomaa and Essam El-Hadary, a strong understanding between defence and keeper is key to AFCON success.

As with Egypt in 2010, Tunisia also showed they possess a healthy selection of game-changing options from the bench. Youssef Msakni came on to twist and turn his way to a wonderfully skilful second goal while the likes of Issam Jemaa and Oussama Darragi remained in reserve (the former through injury). Might another Mohamed Gedo, super-sub turned tournament top scorer, be within their ranks?

Tunisia already have the spine of a continental championship winning side. Last year, in the midst of revolution, the Carthage Eagles won the African Nations Championship (for domestic based players) thanks largely to a core of key players of whom many are included here. Korbi, Msakni – both scorers against Morocco – Abdennour, Darragi and Dhaouadi; all have tasted victory in national team colours already. Their manager at CHAN? Trabelsi. Darragi, Msakni and Korbi were also part of the Esperance side that won the CAF African Champions League.

Bearing in mind the last four tournament winners have all possessed majority domestic based squads, the importance of this core is difficult to overlook.

“We won the CHAN (African Nations Championship) during the revolution. Now we're going to do everything to win the CAN to give joy to Tunisia. We have several players who have played in the Champions League final and the final of the CHAN. That can only help us all,” explained Dhaouadi.

If they are to go far in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea, Trabelsi, who captained Tunisia against England at the 1998 World Cup, is right in saying his team must do more in midfield and control the ball better. But the early signs are encouraging for Tunisia, who look a reasonable bet to continue a trend that has seen a North African team lift the trophy at every Cup of Nations since 2002.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Jonathan Wilson: ACoN Diary: David Dein, visas & the art of groundhopping
Michael Cox: Ivory Coast fail to utilise Yaya as young Lass fails to show class
Tom Legg: Ghana up and running but still a work in progress
Jonathan Fadugba: Five to watch at ACoN 2012 (who don't play in England)

Ivory Coast fail to utilise Yaya as young Lass fails to show class

Michael Cox — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:14:00 GMT

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone to analise the action from the first few days of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations...

Versatility has always been key feature of Yaya Toure’s game – he’s able to play anywhere down the centre of the pitch; as a number ten, a box-to-box midfielder, a holding player or even as a centre-back, where he lined up for Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final.

In the Ivory Coast’s 1-0 win over Sudan in their opening game of the current Africa Cup of Nations, he was in theory playing as the most attacking of the three central midfielders, ahead of Jean-Jacques Gosso and Chieck Tiote, and behind the attacking triumvirate of Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and Didier Drogba.

But the positions of his passes received demonstrates how deep he came to get the ball, which may have turned Ivory Coast into something of a broken team, with no link between midfield and attack. Toure attempted to motor forward and score himself, but all three of his attempts were off target.

Lass – real name Alhassane Bangoura – is one of the brightest young talents in African football. The Guinea forward plays in Spain with Madrid-based Rayo Vallecano, and has made a good impact at club level this season by providing the running that veteran forward Raul Tamudo can no longer get through, in an energetic Rayo side. He is naturally a winger, although can be deployed upfront in order to provide Asamoah Gyan-style runs into the channels.

But Lass didn’t enjoy a good opening game in the 1-0 defeat to Mali, and was arguably trying to do too much himself. Both of his shots were off target, and from the five times he tried to dribble past an opponent, he was tackled on four occasions.

Gabon’s defence was highly impressive in their 2-0 opening round win against Niger, with the centre-back pairing of Bruno Ecuele Manga and Remy Ebanega particularly dominant in the air.

It was notable how high up the pitch they made clearances, keeping a high line and pushing the Niger defence away from goal. Ebanega was the more proactive of the two, making more clearances, which occurred slightly higher up the pitch than his partner’s.

Manga, who was Laurent Koscielny’s replacement at Lorient in France, shows many of the qualities of his predecessor, calmly reading the game rather than diving into tackles.

Another relative unknown to have made a significant impact in the opening round of matches was Abubakr al Abaidy, even though his Libya side were defeated by Equatorial Guinea. Al Abaidy, playing as a left-back, completed more passes than any other player on the pitch and was a real force bombing down the left wing.

He also showed good defensive awareness, making five interceptions to break up Equatorial Guinea attacks. More impressive performances like this, and he might find himself being linked with a move to a more prestigious club – he currently plays for Nasr in his home country.

Stats Zone, the app from FourFourTwo powered by data from Opta, is available now at the iTunes App Store

Click here to get the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone

ACoN Diary 3: David Dein, visas and the art of groundhopping

Jonathan Wilson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:16:00 GMT

Jonathan Wilson continues his diary of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea...

Famously, Lord of the Rings doesn’t end after the Ring has been despatched into Mount Doom [errr, spoiler alert - ed]. Instead, there are a number of coda, explaining what happened to the characters next. Most anti-climactic – and deliberately so – is the return of Merry and Pippin to The Shire, where they find life insufferably banal after their adventure, the everyday concerns and gripes of the general population dreadfully tedious.

Steve must find something similar every time he goes back from a Cup of Nations. Steve isn’t his real name, but I don’t want to blow his cover. He’s a local government official – again, let’s keep this vague – from the north-west, but since 1996, he’s been at the opening game of every Cup of Nations. More than that, he’s seen a game at every stadium used since, bar three (the two Nigerian grounds when they co-hosted with Ghana in 2000 and Kayes, in the far north-west of Mali, in 2002). Somehow, he manages to wangle himself accreditation, to persuade various unhelpful to give him a visa, and then manages the logistics of his travel with determination and inventiveness.

Equatorial Guinea is not an easy country to get into. As far as I’m aware, aside from the BBC, the only British people to have secured a visa for the Cup of Nations through the London embassy are David Dein and I. It took me about two months of negotiation and pleading, phone calls and emails, and even then it was only processed thanks to two people – Kennedy at CAF and Angelina in the embassy – going far beyond the basics of their job.

Groundhoppers will be sure to take in Stade d'Angondjé in Libreville, Gabon

Steve, goodness knows how, persuaded first FlyBe then Air France to let him on the plane from Manchester to Paris and then Paris to Libreville with just a letter supposedly guaranteeing he would be granted a visa on arrival (Air France had told me there was no way this would be possible). He got a dual visa there, flew to Bata for the opening game, and then on to Malabo on Sunday. Early on Monday he caught a plane to Libreville for Gabon’s victory over Niger and Tunisia’s 2-1 win over Morocco. The next day he flew to Franceville for the Group D fixtures before taking a train back, flying back to Malabo and then to Paris and Manchester.

All but one of the other British groundhoppers were thwarted by the visa restrictions and the cost. They are an odd and eccentric bunch, dedicated to nothing more than “collecting” grounds, whether at major tournaments or just in normal league games. Conversations with them tend to drift inevitably to discussions of how many Austrian second-division grounds they have left to do, or if anybody knows a cheap guest-house in Waalwijk, or how the Cup of Nations hasn’t been the same since Burkina Faso in 98.

Until the mid-nineties it was a predominantly British pursuit, but the Germans have taken over. King Hopper now is Kurt (again, not his real name). I saw him this week as well (at least, I think I did; he’s one of twins, so it’s hard to be quite sure); he led a band of German hoppers in by air to Libreville, from where they drove to up to the Rio Mitemele and crossed the border by pirogue.

There is a train-spotterish aspect to hopping, of course, but they also have a sense of adventure and a staggering level of initiative. But when Steve arrives back in his drab local authority office tomorrow, you do wonder whether his other employees have any notion of how extraordinary the logistical feats he’s performed this week have been.

Stats Zone analysis: Ghana up and running but still a work in progress

Tom Legg — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:14:00 GMT

Finalists last time, Ghana got off to a winning start against Botswana – and, notes Tom Legg, look to be adressing their critics

A 25th-minute goal by “Rock of Gibraltar” John Mensah secured Ghana a deserved victory over Africa Cup of Nations debutants Botswana on Tuesday afternoon in the Stade de Franceville.

Botswana coach Stanley Tshosane opted for a defensively minded 4-1-4-1, and in the absence of youngster Skhana Koko the goalscoring burden was placed firmly upon the shoulders of talismanic striker Jerome Ramatlhakwane.

There was only one surprise in Ghana's starting XI: the inclusion of Emmanuel Badu over Udinese team-mate Kwadow Asamoah suggested coach Goran Stevanovic was mindful of the physical threat Botswana’s midfield unit would pose. Asamoah Gyan was passed fit to play after his recent injury, and Jordan Ayew, younger brother of the BBC African Footballer of the Year Andre Ayew, made his Africa Cup of Nations debut on the right flank.

FEATURE Ones to watch at ACoN 2012 (including Asamoah, Ayew and Ayew)

The Black Stars go from reactive to pro-active
Recent criticism of Ghana has centred around the side's lack of tactical development over the past 12-18 months. No longer underdogs, the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finalists and World Cup quarter-finalists are now arguably Africa's top side. Despite this change in status, their tactical approach had shown little sign of development, until today.

Ghana dominated the early exchanges with 68% of possession, while playing a progressive and pro-active attacking style of play, far removed from the counter-attacking system so successfully used under previous coach Milovan Rajevac.

In possession, Ghana were extremely positive in committing players into their opponents’ half: both wingbacks, particularly Samuel Inkoom on the left, were fundamentally wingers. This allowed Jordan Ayew and Andre Ayew to drift infield and combine with Asamoah Gyan and the midfielders, as the brothers' first-half passes-received screens demonstrate.

Advanced wingbacks left space at either side of Ghana’s centre-backs, Mensah and John Boye. Stevanovic remedied this by encouraging his holding players Anthony Annan and Emmanuel Badu to sit deeper and wider, almost covering for his progressive wingbacks, when either of his two centre backs had the ball at their feet.

As Botswana’s central midfielders Patrick Motsepe and Mogogi Gabonamong tracked Annan and Badu into wider areas, space opened up in the centre of the pitch for Sulley Muntari, who drifted deeper as he looked to receive short passes to feet from Ghana’s centre-backs and central midfielders. The Internazionale midfielder is Ghana's best passer over distance; with time and space just in front of the centre circle, he could drive angled passes out to either flank, utilising the advancing wingbacks.

Another positive aspect of Ghana’s attacking strategy was the interchange of positions between Andre and Jordan Ayew. This gave the Black Stars’ central midfielders better short passing options and, crucially, created space down the flanks for their wingbacks.

Conversely, Ghana’s attacking strategy influenced their defensive system: with players committed in advanced areas of the pitch, when they lost the ball they had to press Botswana in their own half of the pitch. Ghana wanted to dominate possession and to control the tempo of the game. They wanted to be proactive, not reactive.

The importance of good crossing and attacking options
The most positive aspect of Botswana’s first half performance was their defensive shape. They were patient, well-organised and defended deep enough to restrict the space beyond their back four, denying Asamoah Gyan space to penetrate.

When a team defends like Botswana did in the first half, and the opposition adopts the type of attacking system Ghana deployed, the best option for the attacking side is to play ‘around’ their opponents. This is done by creating spaces in wide areas, allowing wingers and wing backs to delivery good quality crosses into your opponents’ penalty area.

Ghana failed to do the latter part of this. Of seventeen crosses in the first half, only three were completed; of 12 after the break, only one reached a Black Star.

The reason why so many of these crosses were ineffective is not only due to the poor quality of the balls delivered from wide areas, but also the lack of targets the wingers had to aim for: Ghana’s frontline is possibly the smallest in the Africa Cup of Nations. There’s simply not a lot to aim for.

If Ghana are to continue with this attacking system – and it's to be hoped that they do – then they need to work on have a more varied repertoire of crosses from wide areas, like cut-back crosses to the edge of the area. Players like Muntari and Andre Ayew are more than capable of finishing from distance.

A way forward for Botswana
After Ghana captain Mensah's 66th-minute red card, we got a glimpse of Botswana’s attacking set-up. Their system, which involves three key players – midfielder Ofentse Nato, left-winger Phenyo Mongala and target man Jerome Ramatlhakwane – is simple but often effective.

Nato is Botswana's midfield pivot and best long-distance passer. As soon as Botswana win the ball back in deep areas, they try to get Nato in possession as quickly as possible. And once Nato is on the ball, Mongala looks to make runs beyond the advanced opposition wingback, knowing that Nato will more often that not find him with a long diagonal pass.

The final phase relies on the ability of Mongala to either beat a covering defender and/or deliver a quality cross for Ramatlhakwane to meet. And that's where the Zebras' plan fell down: although Mongala completed 30 of 33 attempted passes, most were well outside the danger area and he failed to complete his sole take-on or any of his four attempted crosses.

Tuesday night's clash between Mali and Guinea, which ended 1-0 to the Malians, was one of the most open and entertaining games thus far and highlights the quality of Group D. But you could argue that this gives Botswana a better opportunity to advance out of the group stage than if they were in a so-called ‘easier’ group against nations like themselves who will defend deep.

Like Ghana, Mali and Guinea have full-backs who like to push on and support in attack. If Nato’s aim stays true during the remaining two group games, there should be opportunities for him to unleash more diagonals for Mongala and Moemedi Moatlhaping to latch onto. If they can deliver with quality from wide areas, then Ramatlhakwane should have the goalscoring opportunities on which he thrives.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Jonathan Wilson: ACoN diary: Drogba, Dogtanian & a double-header
Michael Cox: How will Premier League strikers fare at ACoN 2012?
Jonathan Fadugba: Why Africa's 41st-best football nation is hosting ACoN 2012

Five more to watch at ACoN 2012 (who don't play in England)

Gareth McKnight — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:13:00 GMT

Earlier this week, Jonathan Fadugba picked out five excellent players at the Africa Cup of Nations who don't ply their trade in England… yet. Now Gareth McKnight selects another five – or six – to watch

This year's Africa Cup of Nations has brought top-drawer players and teams to fight it out for glory in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The likes of Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and Demba Ba are superstars of the modern day.

However, look beyond the Premier League names and you'll find plenty of other players waiting to make their names. Furthermore, with the absence of heavyweights Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa, the chance is there for lesser-known players and teams to star. Past competitions have brought some of the current top African players into the limelight, and there is a crop of young, up-and-coming talent ready to show their worth this time round.

Alain Traore (Burkina Faso and Auxerre)

Burkina Faso midfielder Alain Traore has been mightily impressive for club and country over the last 12 months, and is the creative talisman for his nation. The versatile 23-year-old frequently starts in the centre of the park for Paulo Duarte's men, but don't be surprised to seem him pick up the ball in wide areas or look to get beyond the strikers.

Excellent vision and an eye for goal mean Burkina Faso's Group B opponents must be mindful of the Auxerre playmaker. Seven goals this season for the Ligue 1 club have seen the likes of Newcastle and Manchester United being linked with a move for Traore, who could well be pursued again by leading clubs if he has a strong tournament. With him alongside Marseille’s Charles Kabore, the Stallions have a competitive and dangerous midfield at their disposal.

Indeed, although Burkina Faso somewhat unluckily lost their opening group game 2-1 to Angola, Traore scored from a curling free-kick (pictured) and can lay strong claim to being man of the match. He attempted and completed more passes (41 out of 54) and attacking third passes (18 out of 29) than anyone else, and also had the most shots (four).

Watch him vs Ivory Coast, Thu 26th, 7pm; vs Sudan, Mon 30th, 6pm

Kwadwo Asamoah (Ghana and Udinese)

Midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah has starred in Udinese's progression over the last two seasons, and his determination and boundless energy in the centre of the park, allowing likes of the Andre Ayew free space and time on the ball, will make him an ominous opponent at this year's competition – should the Black Stars choose to use him.

The butt of criticism from some Ghanaians who feel he hasn't been replicating his fine club form for his country (to which Asamoah has responded that he plays "according to the instructions of the coach in a manner that best suits the team"), the 23-year-old seems to face a fight with Sulley Muntari for his place – and Muntari got the nod for the opening 1-0 win over Botswana.

Having matured greatly over the last 12 months – and subsequently being linked with top clubs in England and Italy – the Accra-born midfielder will be hoping that his ACoN is more like 2010, when he was a key figure as Ghana reached the final, than 2008 when he remained an unused substitute.
Watch him (possibly…) vs Mali, Sat 28th, 7pm; vs Guinea, Wed 1st, 6pm

Younes Belhanda (Morocco and Montpellier)

With creative talents like Mbark Boussoufa and Adel Taarabt on board, Morocco should be an enjoyable team to watch, but their key playmaker could well be Montpellier prospect Younes Belhanda. The 21-year-old has played an integral part in leading the Stade de la Mosson club up to an unexpected second place in Ligue 1, and has netted five times this season. Excellent with the ball at his feet, the former France U20s playmaker will hope to control possession and pick a defence-splitting pass.

He certainly got off to a good start against Tunisia, despite Morocco's 2-1 defeat. His passes attempted and completed (48 out of 64) were higher than anyone on the pitch bar his central midfield partner, captain and goalscorer Houssine Kharja. Like Kharja, Belhanda was busy in the attacking third with 18 completed passes out of 28, creating two chances as the Lions of the Atlas dominated without winning.

Watch him vs Gabon, Fri 27th, 7pm; vs Niger, Tue 31st, 6pm

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and St Etienne)

Can you be a journeyman at 22? Having joined AC Milan at age 17 but failed to break through, France-born striker Aubameyang was farmed back out on loan to Dijon, Lille, Monaco and St Etienne before signing a permanent deal with the latter last month. Now he needs consistency to live up to his early career potential.

He turned down an invite from Italy U19s and represented France U21s before following in his father Pierre’s footsteps by representing Gabon. With the hopes of a nation resting on his shoulders, he inspired the co-hosts to a commanding 2-0 victory over Niger on Monday, scoring the first goal and helping create the second.

Central to all Gabon's attacking play in a dominant performance, the No.9 had the most shots (five) and shots on target (three), also creating two chances as the Panthers overwhelmed their competition-debutant opponents.

Watch him vs Morocco, Fri 27th, 7pm; vs Tunisia, Tue 31st, 6pm

Andre (and Jordan) Ayew (Ghana and Marseille)

Marseille's Andre and Jordan Ayew are quickly becoming two of the most sought-after talents in European football, as the pair have progressed through the Stade Velodrome youth system into the first team. The sons of Ghana legend Abedi Pele are doing their best to represent their famous family.

Older sibling Andre (pictured) has already racked up over 30 caps at the tender age of 22, and is a supposed target for Arsenal among others. His trickery, speed and guile make him a top player already, and his creativity will be key in Goran Stevanovic's men charge for glory.

Jordan, now 20, has evolved into more of a central attacker, and will look to take advantage of his brother's range of passing. Electric pace and elusive movement off the ball will make the starlet a handful for opposing defences.

Both started in Ghana's opener against Botswana, although Jordan was substituted on the hour as the Black Stars tried unsuccessfully to extend their 1-0 lead. Andre was the more visible player, with 19 successful passes in the attacking third, four successful take-ons out of five and a painful nine fouls suffered – three times more than any other player.

Watch them vs Mali, Sat 28th, 7pm; vs Guinea, Wed 1st, 6pm

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Group D: Ghana, Mali, Guinea & Botswana

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

GHANA
Two years ago Ghana arrived in Angola with a young, highly promising squad that had allowed coach Milovan Rajevac to impose a strict discipline.

The absence of Sulley Muntari spoke volumes: mess Rajevac around and no matter how established you were, he had no qualms about turning to youth. The result was a side in harmony, who clearly enjoyed each other's company and played to a strict tactical discipline, which usually meant Asamoah Gyan being deployed as a lone – and often lonely – striker.

Although beaten 3-1 by Ivory Coast in their opener, 1-0 wins over Burkina Faso, hosts Angola and Nigeria saw them to the final where they were defeated – 1-0 – by Egypt. They carried that form into the World Cup, and were within a Luis Suarez handball of becoming the first African side ever to reach a World Cup semi-final.

The question now is how they'll cope with increased expectation, and if their counter-attacking style can still function when they are expected to take the game to the opposition. A mere two dropped points in qualifying suggests few problems, but the goalless draw at home to Sudan raised that very question about their capacity to break down well-organised defences.

The method, essentially, is simple. Gyan operates as a roving targetman, with Kwadwo Asamoah just off him and Andre Ayew to the left as part of a creative trident. Anthony Annan holds in front of the back four, with Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu alongside him as the shuttling midfielder.

Kevin-Prince Boateng could have occupied that role – or played slightly further forward with Asamoah moving to the right – but the AC Milan midfielder recently retired from international football. As in South Africa, they'll again be without long-term knee injury victim Michael Essien, denying Ghana a player of genuine class, but the midfield is an area in which they still have plenty of options. Gyan showed in the World Cup how brilliantly he can play the lone frontman role, too, holding the ball up and manufacturing chances or set-plays from seemingly impossible situations.

Having been the best African side in the past two World Cups, and with the squad that won the Under-20 World Cup in 2010 to draw on, there is every possibility that Ghana, who in the 1960s were probably the first great African side, could go on to dominate African football for several years.

Then again, it's not that long ago we were saying something similar about Ivory Coast.

Coach Goran Stevanovic
After reaching the World Cup's last eight under Rajevac, Ghana turned to another Serbian when he left for the Middle East. Stevanovic, a one-cap wonder for Yugoslavia, had been an assistant with Serbia & Montenegro and coach at Partizan. His record is underwhelming, but his 4-2-3-1 philosophy does ensure continuity with his predecessor.

Key player Asamoah Gyan
When Ghana hosted the 2008 ACoN, a tearful Gyan was close to walking out after barracking by home fans. Two years on, he was the major reason for Ghana's success. His edge may have been blunted, however, by quitting the Premier League for the UAE.

Key game vs Mali, Franceville, Jan 28
Mali vs Guinea should be a straight shootout for second, but Ghana will need to win it to avoid a nervy final group game against Guinea.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
They were so tough against us in 2008, and although we beat them they are now at a higher level. With Gyan, they have a real chance. Finalists.

MALI
Solid in midfield with Fredi Kanoute upfront, Mali should have made more of an impression in recent tournaments. After semi-final appearances in 2002 and 2004, they failed even to qualify in 2006, and were eliminated in the first round in each of the last two tournaments – despite an astonishing opener in 2010, in which they came from 4-0 down to force a draw with Angola.

Kanoute retired after that tournament, with Momo Sissoko also calling a halt to his international career. The Mali midfield remains strong, however, with Monaco's Mahamadou Diarra partnering Barcelona's Seydou Keita.

Qualifying was less than emphatic, though, a draw against Liberia in their final game meaning Mali progressed ahead of Cape Verde only because of a better head-to-head record, a 3-0 win in Bamako overcoming a 1-0 deficit from the match in Praia.

Coach Alain Giresse
One of the great midfielders of his generation and part of the France side that won the European Championship in 1984, Giresse has had an unorthodox coaching career, following up stints with Toulouse and PSG by going to Morocco with FAR Rabat. He moved into international management with Georgia before inspiring Gabon's rise.

Key player Seydou Keita
There is a tendency to regard Keita as a holding player, but in fact he is more than that, and at Barcelona usually plays alongside Sergio Busquets rather than instead of him. An intelligent passer, effectively the playmaker, he sets the tempo for the Mali midfield.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Progressing will be hard, but as they showed against Angola in 2010, they are capable of pulling off something special.

GUINEA
After reaching three quarter-finals in a row, Guinea failed to reach the last ACoN. But the core of the side, notably attacking duo Ismael Bangoura and Pascal Feindouno, that performed so creditably in 2008, has stayed together. Even ex-Celtic defender Bobo Balde, now 36 and playing for Arles-Avignon, is rolled out now and again.

They were unbeaten in qualifying, a record they preserved by scraping a late equaliser away to Nigeria in their final game, eliminating the Super Eagles. Senegal beat them 3-0 and 4-1 in friendlies last year, though, and there was also a 2-1 defeat to Venezuela.

Coach Michel Dussuyer
The former keeper is in his second spell with Guinea. He coached Benin in 2010, but was sacked with all other coaching and playing staff after a first-round exit.

Key player Pascal Feindouno
The schemer is the captain and main creative force. Having missed the quarter-final thrashing by Ivory Coast in 2008, he has unfinished business – and a great shop window as he approaches his 31st birthday: he became a free agent this month and can sign for whomever he chooses after the tournament.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
With the return of Dussuyer, they have a real chance of making the quarters.

BOTSWANA
Botswana surprised everyone by being the first team to qualify for this year's Cup of Nations, but given their squad depth, they have it all to do now.

Not only have they never qualified for a major finals before, they've not even come close. Botswana didn't play their first international until 1968, and it was only in the '90s that they began trying to qualify for the World Cup and ACN. All but six of the squad are domestically based, and those exceptions play in neighbouring South Africa. But conceding just seven goals in eight qualifiers shows resilience, and they beat Tunisia home and away, losing only after qualification had been secured.

Coach Stanley Tshosane
The shaven-headed reason for the remarkable upsurge in Botswana's fortunes says: "It's the same as in school: prepare well for exams and you'll pass."

Key player Dipsy Selolwane
The 33-year-old, who spent four years in the MLS, is Botswana's all-time top scorer with 15 goals. He often plays in midfield but they need his sharpness upfront.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
No frontrunner, but will want to prove they are ready for such a stage as this.

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Group A: Senegal, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea & Libya
Group B: Ivory Coast, Angola, Sudan & Burkina Faso
Group C: Gabon, Tunisia, Morocco & Niger

Five to watch at ACoN 2012 (who don't play in England)

Jonathan Fadugba — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:07:00 GMT

You all know the superstars – but who are the rising stars playing in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon? Jonathan Fadugba – Editor of Just-Football.com (and chief correspondent for FFT.com's United States of Africa) – lists five likely lads looking to impress on the big stage.

Given the variety of teams to have qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, there's sure to be a horde of European scouts running the rule over players in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew admitted the club would be sending scouts to “monitor” the competition in search of another Papiss Demba Cisse, while Bundesliga club Hoffenheim's scout Lutz Pfannenstiel described it as the “perfect platform,” a “responsibility for every proper club in Europe.”

But who will these scouts be looking at? Here are five players who could star at ACoN 2012 given the opportunity.

Mehdi Benatia (Morocco and Udinese)

I highlighted Benatia last June in my all-star African team of 2010/2011 and since then the Moroccan international's influence on club side Udinese has continued to grow. Nominated for the Best Defender in Italy award in his debut Serie A season – no small achievement in a league that knows a good defender when it sees one – Benatia is a key component of a miserly Udinese defence that has conceded fewer league goals than any other team bar Juventus. Reads the game exceptionally well and is useful in possession.
Watch him vs Tunisia, Mon 23rd, 7pm GMT; vs Gabon, Fri 27th, 7pm; vs Niger, Tue 31st, 6pm

Seydou Doumbia (Ivory Coast and CSKA Moscow)

A nomadic career to date has seen the Ivorian striker travel in the last four years from Japan to Switzerland to Russia, where he plays for CSKA Moscow. Wherever he lays his hat, goals usually follow. Pacy, powerful and prolific, the 24-year-old scored 50 goals in 65 games for Young Boys Bern before heading to Russia and hitting another 24 goals in 32 games in the Russian Premier League.

He has been named Player of the Year in both countries and has five goals so far in this season's Champions League. He could add a whole new dimension to Ivory Coast's frontline if he can find playing time in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea – he came on in the 89th minute of the opening win over Sudan.
Watch him vs Burkina Faso, Thu 26th, 7pm; vs Angola, Mon 30th, 6pm

Jonathan Pitroipa (Burkina Faso and Rennes)

Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti raves about Pitroipa, saying that if the 25-year-old could add consistency to his game he would be one of the most dangerous players in Europe. It's easy to see why Antonetti is so enthused. A speedy, nimble winger who can occupy both left and right flank, often switching positions at regular intervals during games for Rennes, Pitroipa is a player with potential star quality.

Described as the 'Burkinabe Cristiano Ronaldo', a tag he doesn't appear to particularly like, Pitroipa does need to become more reliable if he is to go on and succeed at the highest level. But the basic ingredients are there with his array of tricks, dazzlingly quick feet and ability to beat a man effortlessly.

He started ACoN 2012 in typical style in Burkina Faso's somewhat unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Angola. Nobody attempted more take-ons (seven, with three completed) and, perhaps not uncoincidentally, nobody suffered more fouls (seven) – but only attempted one cross (uncompleted), didn't create any chances and was outpassed by 11 players, including six of his own team-mates.
Watch him vs Ivory Coast, Thu 26th, 7pm; vs Sudan, Mon 30th, 6pm

Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia and Young Boys)

When Seydou Doumbia left Young Boys for Russia the Swiss outfit were quite clear about who would replace him, wasting no time in securing a deal for promising young Zambian Emmanuel Mayuka. Now just turned 21, the bustling striker first came to attention at the Under-20 World Cup in 2007, where he starred for a junior Chipolopolo side that made the last 16.

He was the youngest player at the African Cup of Nations 2008 and has shown very promising development in the years since, thanks to his presence in attack and explosive change of pace. Mayuka, who has said that his dream is to play for Manchester United, can play as a lone striker or drift across the front three and scythe his way in-field via the channels.

ACoN 2012 started well for both Mayuka and Zambia: his 12th-minute header sent the southern side on the way to a precious 2-1 win over group favourites Senegal. He only had one other shot but got it on target, and his danger-man tag was shown in that nobody drew more fouls than him (four).
Watch him vs Libya, Wed 25th, 4pm; vs Equatorial Guinea, Sun 29th, 6pm

Modibo Maiga (Mali and Sochaux)

Off the field, Modibo Maiga has been a disaster this season: throwing tantrums, insulting his own supporters and even refusing to play for Sochaux. It all stems from a long-held desire to leave the Ligue 1 strugglers for a bigger club which, in fairness, his abundant talent probably warrants.

Nevertheless his shenanigans have been quite disheartening to witness and one wonders to what extent it was his misbehaviour, rather than worries over the state of his knee, that caused Newcastle United to pull out of an £8m deal.

It's a shame because when on his game the Mali international is a real handful – aggressive, alert, strong in the air and a good finisher. Scoring 15 league goals last season suggest he can do it at a high level, and having been rejected by the Magpies he will be desperate to impress watching scouts here to rescue him from his nightmare in Montbéliard.
Watch him vs Guinea, Tue 24th, 7pm; Ghana, Sat 28th, 7pm; Botswana, Wed 1st, 6pm

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ACoN Diary 2: Drogba, Dogtanian and a double-header in Malabo

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:45:00 GMT

Jonathan Wilson continues to document his time in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations

One of the joys of travel, they say, is the incidental knowledge you pick up on the way.

Yesterday, for instance, I was sitting in a restaurant in Malabo tucking in to a very good spaghetti bolognese before the double header of Ivory Coast against Sudan and Angola against Burkina Faso (food in Africa, for a western European palate anyway, is easily broken down: former British and Portuguese colonies = dreadful; former French and Spanish colonies = pretty good. This is doubly true of bread and coffee). The TV was showing the classic eighties cartoon Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, dubbed, I thought, into Spanish. But then the action went past a school, above the door of which was written ‘escuela’.

At first, I wondered whether they could possibly have redrawn that section of the cartoon to render it in Spanish but, having decided that was unlikely, I Googled the series. It turns out it was initially a joint Spanish-Japanese production and that the English dub, the one we all grew up with, was a translation.

Further research shows that Around the World with Willy Fogg (with its villainous wolf apparently modelled on Paul Breitner) was also a Spanish-Japanese co-production, while Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold were French-Japanese. British animation seems to have been shamefully restricted to shorts like King Rollo and Willo the Wisp, the epic sweep apparently beyond them.

I tried asking the waiter about Dogtanian, but linguistic confusion led him to think I was talking about Didier Drogba, and he confirmed that he expected Ivory Coast to win the Cup of Nations. Like many others in Equatorial Guinea, he claimed to be an Ivory Coast fan, insisting his family came from there.

The Elephants, strong favourites for the tournament, began against Sudan on Sunday. The game kicked off at 5pm, but I got to the stadium at one, anticipating the chaos for which the Cup of Nations has become notorious. As it was, things couldn’t have gone more smoothly. There wasn’t even anybody checking accreditation at the door, and the wifi – always a journalist’s first concern – worked perfectly.

The stadium itself is small, with a capacity of only 15,000, but could hardly have a more beautiful setting. As you sit in the press-box, the lower slopes of Mount Cameroon stretch away to the right, covered in jungle and shrouded in mist. Over the stand to the left, perhaps 200 yards away, is the sea, which drew a small flock of white ibis to peck their way across the pitch, at least until the crowd swelled enough to scare them off.

The crowd didn’t swell much, though. Including the volunteers who took up their seats at half-time in the Ivory Coast v Sudan game, there were probably no more than 10,000 in the 15,000-capacity stadium. This is a perennial problem for Cups of Nations: when the hosts aren’t playing, crowds are always poor – and that's despite governments such as those of Ivory Coast and Angola subsidising trips for fans. Given the cheapest ticket was £6.25, around a week’s wages for the majority of the country, perhaps that isn’t so surprising, while travelling fans – never large in number in Africa anyway – were probably put off by the high cost of accommodation and the difficulty of attaining visas.

Ivory Coast weren’t great, but they were good enough – Didier Drogba heading the only goal midway through the first half and the much-maligned Boubacar Barry making two excellent saves to protect the lead before Yaya Toure dropped deep to shut the game down. It was efficient rather than spectacular, but given how often Ivory Coast have started Cups of Nations well only to falter, that’s probably for the best.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Jonathan Wilson: ACoN diary 1: Volcanoes, oil & a dancing Santa
Michael Cox: How will Premier League strikers fare at ACoN 2012?
Jonathan Fadugba: Why Africa's 41st-best football nation is hosting ACoN 2012

Group C: Gabon, Tunisia, Morocco & Niger

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

GABON
Football is full of 'what ifs', but few have as much reason as Gabon to ponder what might have been.

What if president Omar Bongo, who had ruled the country for 42 years, hadn't died shortly before a World Cup qualifier against Cameroon in June 2009? Gabon had won their first two fixtures and led a Cameroon team in disarray, as the Otto Pfister reign came to an end, by five points. A home win in Libreville would have given them an all but insurmountable lead.

But Bongo's death caused the game to be postponed, and by the time they reconvened the following September, Cameroon had regrouped under Paul Le Guen. In the space of four days, Cameroon beat Gabon home and away; suddenly the lead was gone and it was the Indomitable Lions rather than the Panthers who made it to South Africa.

Gabon gained some measure of revenge by beating Cameroon at the Cup of Nations in Angola – a match in which Didier Ovono established himself as probably the best goalkeeper in Africa – but it was a success on which they were unable to build. A draw against Tunisia and defeat to Zambia left them level on points with Cameroon and Zambia. They celebrated on the pitch in Benguela but, like South Africa last year, they had misunderstood how the head-to-head system worked and were knocked out on goals scored.

Although their best performance in the Cup of Nations was reaching the quarter-finals in 1996, Gabon has the feel of an emerging football nation, and on home soil the expectation will be of a place in the semis at the very least.

This is a squad with players from clubs in countries as varied as Tunisia, Belarus and Hungary, but it's notable that 11 of the squad play their domestic football at home in Gabon.

Manager Alain Giresse was replaced by German Gernot Rohr in 2010, but he's maintained a similar approach. Gabon don't score many but they don't concede many either, thanks in no small part to goalkeeper Ovono and combative centre-back Bruno Manga, whose robustness has seen him become an effective replacement for Laurent Koscielny at Lorient. And while a friendly defeat to Gambia in June caused a few ripples of anxiety, Gabon have beaten Niger and Equatorial Guinea since then, as well as putting in solid performances in defeats to Ghana and Brazil.

Coach Gernot Rohr
The defender played 350 games for Bordeaux before managing them over three stints, including to a UEFA Cup final. Since then he has wandered through a number of French second division teams, as well as Young Boys of Bern, and he lasted only five months in his last job at Nantes before taking over at Gabon in February 2010.

Key player Bruno Manga
Manga was spotted by Bordeaux scouts, but never played for les Girondins. He impressed sufficiently at Angers, though, to earn a move to Lorient and become a regular at international level.

Key game vs Tunisia, Franceville, Jan 31
If Gabon don't take six points against Niger and Morocco, this match could be edgy. It's the only game in this tightest of groups to be played outside the capital, and a runners-up spot will likely mean a quarter-final with Ghana.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
They will feel a lot of support from the home fans as a host nation, but they will also feel pressure from that. Gabon will need to create a surprise to beat one of the two big teams in their group if they are to progress.

TUNISIA
Talk about changing of the guard. Of the sides who have won the last nine tournaments, Tunisia are the only one to have qualified this time. Even they squeaked through behind Botswana, getting the win they needed against Togo on the final day.

Tunisia were the first African side to win a World Cup finals match (against Mexico in 1978), and have reached four World Cups. They won the Cup of Nations at home in 2004, and lifted the CHAN – the tournament restricted to players from their home country's domestic league – in Sudan last year, giving them a welcome retort to those who criticised their policy of naturalising Brazilians for much of the last decade.

But these are turbulent times, with seven changes of coach since 2008, and Tunisia seem to be struggling to find an identity now the glory years of 2002-06 are over. Although they hammered both Chad and Mali last year, they also lost to Oman and Algeria. Inconsistency rules.

Coach Sami Trabelsi
Once a rangy centre-back for CS Sfaxien in Tunisia, Trabelsi (below, left) won 52 caps for the team he now manages. The 43-year-old played at the 1998 World Cup and coached the Tunisian Olympic side. He took over as full national coach after Ammar Souayah quit following last year's uprising.

Key player Karim Haggui
A tall, rugged central defender, Haggui was the youngest member of the squad that won the Cup of Nations in 2004, and is now the most experienced member in terms of caps won. He moved to Europe with Strasbourg in 2006 and, after three years at Bayer Leverkusen, is now at Hannover 96.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
So well organised, they will rightly have high hopes. They shouldn't have many troubles getting through this group.

MOROCCO
They held their nerve to qualify on the final day by beating Tanzania 3-1, but the result that really counted for Morocco was a 4-0 hammering of neighbours and rivals Algeria in June last year. It suggested Eric Gerets' approach was beginning to pay off.

Friendly results have been mixed, though, and there was a frustrating lack of cohesion to their play in Marrakech last November, both in the 1-0 defeat to Uganda and the 1-1 draw with Cameroon. Gerets' style is most effective when he has his players for a protracted period, though, so tournament football should suit this Morocco side.

Coach Eric Gerets
As a manager, the 57-year-old Belgian has won league titles in Holland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and his home country.

Key player Marouane Chamakh
The Arsenal forward was just 20 when his goals inspired the Lions of the Atlas to the 2004 final. While he's struggled lately to get regular football for the Gunners, he offers the physical threat to make the most of the Morocco midfield's technical quality.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Having only conceded twice in getting here, they will be a force in this group.

NIGER
Talk about an odd way to qualify: Niger ended their campaign with a 3-0 defeat to what was effectively an Egypt under-23 side, but as South Africa mistakenly played for a draw against Sierra Leone and finished lower on head-to-heads, it was enough.

Niger actually lost three of their six games, but nonetheless they've qualified for the first time. Given their federation admitted it might have been unable to afford to send them to Angola had they qualified in 2010, it is quite an achievement – particularly after being grouped with Egypt and South Africa.

Coach Harouna Doula Gabde
Gabde makes a point of thanking God for their success, but it may have more to do with his intense, hard-pressing 4-4-2.

Key player Kassaly Daouda
The goalkeeper, one of three players in the squad from Cameroonian club Coton Sport, has won over 50 caps and had a brief loan spell at Rapid Bucharest.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Unlikely qualifiers to the tournament, they will find it tough to progress here.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Group A: Senegal, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea & Libya
Group B: Ivory Coast, Angola, Sudan & Burkina Faso
Group D: Ghana, Mali, Guinea & Botswana

Group B: Ivory Coast, Angola, Sudan & Burkina Faso

Jonathan Wilson — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

IVORY COAST
We've been talking about last chances for a while now. But this, surely, is Ivory Coast's final, final chance for their gifted generation – perhaps the most gifted any African nation has ever known – to win something. Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Salomon Kalou, Didier Zokora – it's a list of explosive talent few countries in the world can match, and yet so far they have never quite delivered. At World Cups, Ivory Coast have twice been undone by cruelly difficult draws; at Cups of Nations, luck has repeatedly been against them.

In 2006, for instance, they reached the final, but then faced the hosts Egypt in front of a hostile, passionate crowd in Cairo. Drogba missed a sitter that would have won it late on, and then saw his penalty saved as the Ivorians lost in a shootout. In 2008, Egypt were again their nemeses, producing probably the best performance of their six-year reign as African champions to beat them 4-1 in the semi-final.

Then, two years ago in Angola, they went 2-1 up in the 89th minute of a quarter-final they had dominated against Algeria, conceded in injury-time, conceded again early in extra-time and, emotionally shattered, couldn't raise themselves to find an equaliser. Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked as coach for what he referred to as "one minute of madness" from his side, and the familiar story of instability and short-termism went on as Sven-Goran Eriksson took Ivory Coast to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The question mark about Ivory Coast was always whether the players had the imagination to get the best out of their power, but Gervinho offers the team an inventiveness from wide areas – something that has long been a failing not only for Ivory Coast, but for west African football as a whole. He remains inconsistent and his final ball can be wayward, but at least now Ivory Coast have a variety of approach.

Additionally, in CSKA Moscow's Seydou Doumbia they also have one of the most natural young finishers in the world right now. And since his move to Manchester City from Barcelona, the newly liberated Yaya Toure has emerged as one of the few multi-purpose midfielders at the highest level of the game.

Qualifying was a breeze, with six wins out of six and 19 goals scored, but the key, as ever for Ivory Coast, is whether they can convert that into silverware in the finals.

Coach Francois Zahoui
After a disappointing World Cup under Eriksson, Ivory Coast turned to Zahoui, who made his name as coach of Abidjan club Africa Sports. His record cannot be faulted, but indications are that new federation chief Augustin Sidy Diallo would prefer a big-name European coach.

Key player Yaya Toure
Four years ago, when Kolo Toure suggested that his brother – whom he compared to Patrick Vieira – was the better player, most thought it was fraternal generosity speaking. It turns out he was right. The midfielder has developed into a combative presence who plays box-to-box, distributing well and contributing his share of goals.

Key game vs Sudan, Malabo, Jan 22
Angola will likely be their hardest test, but Ivory Coast should have qualified by the time the teams meet in the third game. The key will be getting off to a good start against a big, awkward Sudan side.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
They will have one priority in this Cup of Nations: to win it. They've often missed the last step to hold the trophy but I think this time they can achieve their dreams.

ANGOLA
Petrodollars were supposed to equal progress, but it hasn't quite worked out like that for Angola.

After two qualifications for the Cup of Nations in the '90s, they stunned Nigeria by qualifying ahead of them for the 2006 World Cup. Captain Fabrice Akwa told anyone who'd listen that the World Cup was the perfect stage to prove Angola wasn't "just about oil, war and poverty". Maybe not, but it was a stretch to suggest it was suddenly about football.

With draws against Mexico and Iran, Angola certainly didn't embarrass themselves in Germany, but they were eliminated at the group stage in the 2006 Cup of Nations and were stodgy in reaching the last eight in Ghana two years later. Even on home soil last time out they only flickered, and lacked the wherewithal to break down a solid Ghana in the quarter-final.

Since Luis Goncalves left in 2008, Angola have had a flurry of coaches, with two defeats in six qualifiers hardly a ringing endorsement of their quality going into this tournament.

Coach Lito Vidigal
The brother of ex-Portugal international Luis Vidigal replaced Zeca Amaral 12 months ago, becoming Angola's fifth coach in three years. Once a defender for Campomaiorense and Belenenses, Lito played for Angola in the 1998 ACoN.

Key player Gilberto
The 29-year-old left-winger missed the 2006 World Cup through injury, but was Angola's most impressive player at the Cup of Nations in 2010. Now at Lierse in Belgium, he became a star at Al-Ahly where he won six Egyptian titles and three African Champions Leagues.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Their experiences from Germany 2006 and the 2010 Cup of Nations will help. A good chance of making the quarters.

SUDAN
The only east African side to qualify for Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, Sudan have a far prouder history than their FIFA ranking of 112 suggests.

They hosted the inaugural tournament in 1957, finished runners-up in 1959 and 1963 and won on home soil in 1970. But living up to that past has proved difficult with the economic and political turmoil that has beset the country. Since 1976, Sudan had qualified only once before this tournament – in 2008, when they lost all three games and failed to score a goal. Only Ghana took points off them in qualifying, though, as they went through as a best runner-up.

Coach Mohamed Abdalla Ahmed
Ahmed was coach at the 2008 ACN and led the team to third at the 2011 CHAN (the competition restricted to players based in their home country's league).

Key player Haitham Mustafa
One figure bestrides Sudanese football. Captain and record caps holder, the astute midfielder has won 11 Sudanese Premier League titles with Al-Hilal.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
With young players coming through, just improving on 2008 will be Sudan's aim.

BURKINA FASO
Mauritania's withdrawal left Burkina Faso with just Gambia and Namibia to overcome in qualifying. They did that with ease, averaging three goals per game and only dropping points away to Gambia having already qualified.

Having made five ACoNs in a row, they missed the next three after finishing fourth on home soil in 1998. But this second qualification in a row, with a side just coming to maturity, suggests they are a nation on the up. They have pace, strikers Aristide Bance and Moumouni Dagano are potent and defender Bakary Kone was solid enough at Guingamp to earn a move to Lyon last summer.

Coach Paulo Duarte
After a part-time stint at Le Mans, the 42-year-old Portuguese former defender is now fully focused on the Stallions, whom he led to Angola in 2010.

Key player Jonathan Pitroipa
A lightning-fast winger or midfielder, Pitroipa made his name at Freiburg and Hamburg before moving to Rennes for £3.2m in 2011, scoring two on his debut.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Their target is second place. Although possible, I think it will be tough for them.

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Group A: Senegal, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea & Libya
Group C: Gabon, Tunisia, Morocco & Niger
Group D: Ghana, Mali, Guinea & Botswana

Group A: Senegal, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea & Libya

Jonathan Wilson — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

SENEGAL
A certain date is scored deep into the consciousness of Senegalese football: October 11, 2008. That was when it hit rock bottom.

The Lions of Teranga needed only to win at home against their generally disregarded neighbours Gambia (the Senegalese call it "a suppository in the a**e of Africa" because of the country's curious shape, snaking along the banks of the river which shares its name) to reach the second phase of World Cup qualifying. They drew 1-1, and so missed out on both South Africa and the 2010 Cup of Nations.

For a side that had been one of the coming forces of the new century, that had beaten France in the World Cup, that had lost the 2002 Cup of Nations Final only on penalties, that had been controversially beaten in the semi-final by hosts Egypt in 2006, it was some setback. Tony Sylva, Khalilou Fadiga, Salif Diao and El-Hadji Diouf, veterans of the 2002 World Cup, had all played in that game, but there was clear need for rejuvenation.

Not surprisingly, it was Diouf whose departure proved hardest to manage. As turbulent as he is, his energy, tireless front-running and imagination had been a key factor in Senegal's rise. He remains the greatest icon Senegalese football has ever produced, but it seemed that his personality had become too dominant in the dressing room.

Last July, Diouf effectively made the Senegalese management's decision for them. Having missed a disciplinary hearing convened to investigate claims he had made about corruption in African football, he vowed to "go to war" with the Senegalese federation if they attempted to impose any sanction. They banned him for five years.

The suspicion, though, is that Senegal don't actually need him. They have attacking options aplenty, with Demba Ba, Mamadou Niang, Dame N'Doye and Souleymane Camara all battling for the striking roles in Amara Traore's attacking 4-4-2, in which the forward Moussa Sow, such a key figure in Lille's French title win last season, tends to be forced out to play on either flank.

The defence perhaps does not quite have the same depth of quality, and following successive friendly defeats to Colombia, Peru and Morocco, expectations have been dampened. But Senegal's forward line means that if they can discover defensive solidity – and they conceded just twice in qualifying, despite a tough group including Cameroon and DR Congo – they will prove a serious threat.

Coach Amara Traore
Traore was 36 when he went to the 2002 World Cup and didn't play one minute. But few would quibble with the job he has done in trying to restore dignity to Senegalese football since replacing Lamine N'Diaye in December 2009.

Key player Moussa Sow
Sow, who turns 26 two days before the ACN begins, was top scorer in France last season with 25 goals, including three hat-tricks, as Lille won the title. Although he was a part of France's Under-19 European Championship-winning side in 2005, he committed to Senegal in 2009. Given Senegal's attacking resources, he often finds himself out wide, trying to add goalscoring thrust from midfield.

Key game vs Zambia, Bata, Jan 21
Ahead of a World Cup qualifier between the two teams in 1993, Zambia's team were killed in a plane crash. This will be a poignant meeting of the group's best teams.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
After missing out on two tournaments in 2010, Senegal will be highly motivated. Should make at least the semi-finals.

ZAMBIA
Two years ago in Angola, Zambia dominated their quarter-final against Nigeria but lost on penalties.

As the Super Eagles sleepwalked – yet again – to third place and Zambia coach Herve Renard was lured away by the wealthier Angolan federation, it was hard to see much future for a team that had impressed with its vibrancy. But now Renard is back and Zambia look a force.

The question is whether Renard should be back; although his departure felt traumatic, he was only reappointed in October, and it was Dario Bonetti, once of Roma, Milan and Juventus, who led them through qualifying – only to be fired.

Although Zambia lost away to Libya in their second qualifier, that was their only defeat, and a record of just two goals conceded – one of them, weirdly, away to tiny island nation Comoros – speaks of a solid, balanced team. Like 2010, this is a team lacking stars, made up of players based largely in Africa, including six from 2010 African Champions League winners TP Mazembe of DR Congo.

Coach Herve Renard
Renard's first head coaching role at a professional club came at Cambridge United, where he was dismissed after winning just four of 25 matches. He only lasted six months as coach of Angola after abandoning Zambia for them in 2010, returning to the Chipolopolo following a stint at USM Alger.

Key player Christopher Katongo
Utrecht forward Jacob Mulenga is the only player at a western European club, but the experienced Katongo of Chinese side Henan Jianye is Zambia's key figure, offering creativity from either flank.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Not to be underestimated. We only beat a solid Zambia in the last minute in 2010.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Equatorial Guinea have never qualified before, and their failure to qualify in 2002 was only their second attempt.

The co-hosts have put in a team for every tournament since, but a FIFA ranking of 151 tells its own story. They climbed to 64th in 2008, but the more stable Elo rankings never had them higher than 141st. A trawl of Spain for players with Equatoguinean heritage has bolstered the squad, and a 3-2 aggregate victory over Madagascar saw them make the second phase of World Cup qualifying, confirming the positive signs left by a draw against Cameroon and a 3-0 win over the Central African Republic.

Coach Henri Michel
The 64-year-old is one of the most respected coaches in Africa. He managed France at the 1986 World Cup and has coached Cameroon, Morocco (twice), UAE, Tunisia and Ivory Coast.

Key player Randy
Las Palmas left-winger Iban Iyanga – or Randy – is one of the recent call-ups based in Spain. His mother is from the Canaries; his father, Equatorial Guinea.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
They've been inconsistent, so will need to turn things around fast to get through.

LIBYA
Given Libya have only appeared at two Cups of Nations – finishing runners-up as hosts in 1982, followed much later by a winless showing in Egypt in 2006 – qualifying was eye-catching even without the knowledge of what the country has been through recently.

Pride in the new nation – the kit has been changed to red and black to reflect the flag of the National Transitional Council – has clearly been an inspiration. Despite having to play home qualifiers in Egypt, Libya secured second place in their group with an emotional 0-0 draw away to Zambia and qualified unbeaten as one of the best-placed runners-up.

Coach Marcos Paqueta
The 53-year-old won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Championships in 2003 as coach of Brazil, and led Saudi Arabia in their poor 2006 World Cup campaign.

Key player Samir Aboud
The goalkeeper is the most successful player in Libyan history, winning nine Libyan Premier League titles with Al-Ittihad. He played in an African Champions League semi-final in 2007.

Samuel Eto'o predicts...
Will have special motivation to succeed. Libya could well get through this group.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Group B: Ivory Coast, Angola, Sudan & Burkina Faso
Group C: Gabon, Tunisia, Morocco & Niger
Group D: Ghana, Mali, Guinea & Botswana

How will these Premier League strikers fare at the Africa Cup of Nations?

Michael Cox — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:27:00 GMT

ZonalMarking.net's Michael Cox uses the StatsZone app – from FFT and Opta, available now – to preview the Africa Cup of Nations - get the FREE Africa Cup of Nations version of Stats Zone now...

This is widely considered to be the final chance for the Ivory Coast generation led by Didier Drogba, who plays upfront with two of two other players well-known in the Premier League – his Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou and Arsenal forward Gervinho.

Favourites for the competition, Ivory Coast’s problem is that they lack real creativity in midfield, depending upon the role Yaya Toure plays – he can be used either as a very attacking force, as he was for Manchester City last season (most notably in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United) or as a holding player, as in his Barcelona days. As a result, their style of play is direct, powerful and often a little predictable.

However, if you want to play that way, Drogba is as good a striker as you’ll find. The passes he received in his most recent game, Chelsea’s defeat to Aston Villa, shows a striker who generally stays in central positions and is happy to receive longer balls. His shooting was wayward, however – from his five attempts the only one on target was a penalty. He is the Ivory Coast’s main man, but he shouldn’t be allowed to dominate proceedings too much.

Second favourites are Ghana, the only African side to progress past the group stage at the World Cup two years ago. They also enjoyed a good Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 2010, getting to the final by playing a counter-attacking game and relying on the pace of forward Asamoah Gyan, who scored the only goal in both the quarter-final and semi-final.

Gyan is a completely different type of forward to Drogba – and the diagram of his most recent complete game available on StatsZone, at home to Newcastle earlier this season, illustrates his style perfectly.

He rarely stays in central positions, even when playing as the lone striker – he works the channels and drifts out to the wings. However, he’s so quick that he often finds he has no support, and takes shots from highly ambitious positions, meaning his shooting can be highly erratic.

Senegal’s matches will be watched closely on Tyneside – Newcastle’s new strike partnership of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse is the same combination likely to be used by Amara Traore at the ACoN.

It will be interesting to see which striker plays in which role. They are broadly similar players – Cisse is a classic number nine and thrives in the penalty box, and while Ba can play on the flank, he’s excelled this year at Newcastle by playing as a classic centre-forward. Will Cisse be the main striker, or Ba?

Ba’s performance against Manchester United, his final game before departing for Africa, showed that he’s more than capable of playing alongside another static central striker, in Shola Ameobi. There, the two collected plenty of long balls, and Ba never ventured to the flank in the final third.

It sums up Maroune Chamakh’s woes: the last complete game he’s played was a dead rubber Champions League tie away at Olympiacos. After a good start to life at Arsenal, his form over the last year has been horrendous, and with Robin van Persie’s superb displays, Chamakh hasn’t got much playing time in the Premier League this season.

The Moroccan is primarily seen as a number nine, a target for direct football – it’s interesting how long many of the balls to him are, particularly considering the general style of Arsenal’s play.

That will probably be his role in this tournament – Morocco play with many attacking midfielders, with the likes of Mbark Boussoufa, Nordin Amrabat, Younes Belhanda, Adel Taarabt and Houssine Kharja to choose from, plus Youssouf Hadji as a second striker.

Chamakh will be asked to hold the ball up, and his role might be more about laying the ball off to runners, rather than shooting. That’s probably a wise move if his recent goalscoring form is anything to go by.

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Equatorial Guinea: How Africa's 41st best footballing nation came to host the ACoN

Jonathan Fadugba — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:26:00 GMT

As one of the smallest countries in continental Africa, what do you do if you cannot play your way to a major international tournament? In Equatorial Guinea's case the answer was simple. You buy your way in.

Aided by the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves that prompted huge economic growth in the mid-1990s, Equatorial Guinea found the resources possible to mount a joint bid with neighbours Gabon. After seeing off competition from Nigeria, in 2006 they were named joint hosts for what will be their first ever African Cup of Nations.

In a sense, therefore, the challenge is already won for the Nzalang Nacional. As a nation with just 2,300 registered players merely competing on such a stage is impressive enough. Loftier ambitions must be considered unrealistic. A comparative lack of competitive football having qualified as hosts only puts them at further disadvantage.

A further blow was the loss in December of veteran French coach Henri Michel, African football's serial hired hand. Michel cited 'repeat interference' as reason for leaving his eleventh post in Africa, leaving Brazilian coach Gilson Paulo to take over on a two-month contract that tells you everything you need to know about any plans for long-term development. Guinean officials described Michel's resignation, not one month before the team's opening game, as 'sabotage'.

One of Michel's principal complaints while in charge was over what he interpreted as meddling by the son of Equatorial Guinea's president Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa's longest serving leader, described as a 'despotic ruler' and accused by Human Rights Watch of using an oil boom to "entrench and enrich [his dictatorship] at the expense of the country's people."

Despite having one of the highest levels of GDP per capita in Africa according to the World Bank in 2009, social inequality in Equatorial Guinea is desperate. The most recent Household Expenditure Survey in 2006 showed that 70% of the population live below the poverty line, despite the country's newfound wealth, and investment in social-sector developments have dragged.

In 2010 Transparency International brought a case against the Obiang family accusing it of laundering the nation's riches. It reported that the Obiang family's assests - including eight luxury cars in France worth €4.2million - were worth far in excess of what the family officially earn.

Differences of opinion are often poorly received. Ahead of last year's African Union summit – hosted by Equatorial Guinea - Amnesty International reported that political opponents of Obiang, as well as up to 100 students, had been arbitrarily arrested and detained without charge.

"President Obiang’s government is already among the worst human rights abusers in Africa and the continuing persecution of political opponents is deplorable," said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director.

It is against this backdrop that Michel tried to bring his experience to a team facing huge challenges. Ruslan Obiang, the president's son, worked with Michel in his capacity as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, but the pair clashed on a number of issues, team selection being one. Nicknamed 'the sorceror', Michel wanted to forge a tight knit group of preferably local based players. The president's son felt differently.

Obiang favoured a more exotic blend of overseas-based, naturalised Equatoguineans. The dispute had already forced Michel to resign once last October, but he reneged on his decision a week later. The final straw came when Equatorial Guinea's preliminary Cup of Nations squad was announced and, according to Michel, "a player was added to the list without permission."

With that in mind, Paulo's 23-man squad makes for interesting reading. Ten of the 23 ply their trade overseas in Spain, land of the old colonial rulers, while others like Brazil-born keeper Danilo, Liberian Lawrence Doe and the Cameroonian striker Thierry Fidjeu, are naturalised representatives. Meanwhile five local based players called up by Michel for the Nzalang Nacional's World Cup 2014 preliminary round qualifier triumph over Madagascar in November were omitted.

President Obiang has boldly declared that he expects Equatorial Guinea to go all the way at this Cup of Nations. "Not only do we want the national team to display attractive football and sporting values, we also want them to win the Cup. The trophy must remain in Equatorial Guinea," he stated. But really this is a pipe dream. The squad is arguably the weakest in the competition.

Defensively they can be compact - three clean sheets in their last seven games offers some hope - but in reality their current FIFA ranking of 150th in the world (41st in Africa!) tells its own story.

Deportivo La Coruna forward Rodolfo Bodipo is captain and leader, the nation's best known player, while Javier Balboa's career highlight is scoring for Real Madrid. They along with Fidjeu will be looked to for creativity and firepower.

Kicking off against Libya, the home support they receive in Bata will need to be at its boisterous best if Equatorial Guinea are to have any hopes of a respectable campaign. Tough games against Senegal and Zambia follow. It is therefore very difficult to see how Paulo can manufacture anything other than a nice bit of international coaching experience for himself during this brief stint in charge. After the tournament he will return to his administrative position at Vasco da Gama's academy in Brazil.

In managing to qualify for the World Cup in Germany last year Equatorial Guinea's women delighted the entire nation and were celebrated as heroes. Now it's over to the men.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Jonathan Wilson: ACoN diary 1: Volcanoes, oil & a dancing Santa
Michael Cox: How will Premier League strikers fare at ACoN 2012?

ACoN Diary 1: volcanoes, oil and a dancing Santa

Jonathan Wilson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:43:00 GMT

Jonathan Wilson agreed to furnish FourFourTwo.com with a diary of his time in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Here's the first instalment.

The descent into Malabo comes abruptly. You break through the mist that has covered the Equatorial Guinea capital for the two days since I got here, and see nothing but the grey Atlantic and a splodge of volcanic rock covered in thick forest. Then suddenly there are a handful of red-tiled roofs amid the trees and the plane is screeching along the runway.

The road into town is broad, modern and all but empty, lined with new-built concrete buildings. At the first junction, a flatbed truck packed with Chinese construction workers crosses in front of us; a little further on I notice that a large purple-brown building on the right is decorated with large Chinese characters. There’s not much doubt where the money’s coming from for much of the building work.

There’s a sense of incongruity about the whole place, something that is only enhanced by the hotel, which – conveniently – backs on to the stadium. Twelfth Night has been gone a fortnight, but in the car park are inflatable Santa Clauses, while a nativity scene stands in the lobby next to a 5ft-tall model Santa, who writhes provocatively to We Wish You A Merry Christmas and thrusts his pelvis while calling for figgy pudding.

It’s welcoming, albeit in a slightly weird way, and that is really what this tournament’s all about. Until now, after all, who in the rest of the world cared about Equatorial Guinea? There’s been a pattern to recent Cups of Nations: Angola two years ago, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon this time round, and it was supposed to be Libya next until the uprising against Gaddafi intervened. These are all oil-rich countries (as are Russia and Qatar, which may not be coincidence), and that they want to spend their wealth on hosting tournaments is not charitable largesse.

This is about laundering the image of the country, raising its profile, making it seem “normal”. Two years ago, the Angola captain Fabrice Akwa said the Cup of Nations was a chance to prove his nation was not just “oil, war and poverty”, and that surely is the aim of other hosts (which makes it all the more frustrating that getting visas for Equatorial Guinea and Gabon has proved so difficult – after two months of discussions, I got mine about three hours prior to the embassy closing the day before my flight left; I know of at least five other journalists who gave up.)

And, whatever you think of the ethics of spending money on hosting a tournament when there are social projects desperate for cash, local enthusiasm is clear. The Ivory Coast team bus was mobbed by fans, all seemingly desperate to bang on the windows, when they arrived. Local television has been showing a non-stop churn of footballers smiling and shaking hands with men in suits, interspersed with people in Equatoguinean colours dancing on the wings of dilapidated planes (grounded) cut with a montage of great Cups of Nations goals.

In Malabo, my taxi driver insisted yesterday, the excitement is only going to grow. “Everybody who likes football has gone to Bata for the opening game,” he said. “On Sunday, woooooh....” On Sunday, Ivory Coast play Sudan, and then Burkina Faso face Angola. It should be quite a day.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

Jonathan Wilson: ACoN Diary 2: Drogba, Dogtanian and a double-header in Malabo
Michael Cox: How will Premier League strikers fare at ACoN 2012?
Jonathan Fadugba: Why Africa's 41st-best football nation is hosting ACoN 2012

Ali Bongo, masks and zither-harps: meet the hosts

Jonathan Wilson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:36:00 GMT

Know next to nothing about the proud hosts of ACoN 2012, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea? Fear not! Impress your friends with facts gleaned from Jonathan Wilson's five-step guide to each of the co-hosts.

Gabon

1. Europeans arrived in equatorial West Africa in the 15th century, and gave Gabon its name because of the estuary of the Komo River’s resemblance in shape to the gabao, a Portuguese hooded cloak. Gabon became a centre of the slave trade under French protection. The country became independent in 1960.

2. In 1849, the French attacked a slave ship just off the coast of Gabon, freeing the captives who founded Libreville (‘free town’). It is now the country’s capital, with 600,000 of Gabon’s 1.5 million population living there.

3. Backed by French logging interests, Leon M’Ba was elected president, with Omar Bongo vice-president, in 1961. M'Ba imposed a one-party state in 1964 and fought off a military coup that sought to reimpose democracy with the help of French paratroopers. He died in 1967 and was replaced by Bongo, who ruled until his death in 2009, replaced by his son Ali Bongo.

4. Oil is responsible for 81% of exports and 43% of GDP, but production is declining and it is estimated it will have run out by 2025. Although a per capita annual income of $8,600 is high for the region, wealth is concentrated among a small elite, with over 90% of assets held by under 20% of the population.

5. Gabon is famous for its masks, which come in two main types: the n’goltang of the Fang people and the relicary figures of the Kota. The masks, used on ceremonial occasions such as births, marriages and funerals, are crafted from rare local woods, and are often inlaid with precious materials. Look out for  them at games, too.

Equatorial Guinea

1. Equatorial Guinea was at various times settled by the Portuguese, the British and the Spanish, and it was even briefly ruled from Buenos Aires during the chaos of the Napoleonic Wars. From 1844 until its independence in 1968, Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish colony, and it remains the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa.

2. Francisco Macias Nguema was elected as Equatorial Guinea’s first president in 1968, but he declared a one-party state two years later. His reign of terror, in which it is estimated 80,000 of the country’s 300,000 population were killed, lasted until 1979 when he was deposed by Teodoro Obiang. Macias’ most notorious atrocity was the execution at Christmas in 1975 of 150 alleged coup plotters in the national stadium, as Mary Hopkin’s song Those Were The Days was played over the tannoy.

3. Obiang remains in power, having survived a reported 12 coup attempts. The most notorious of them came in 2004 and led to a British citizen, Simon Mann, being jailed amid allegations – strongly denied – that the coup had been financially backed by Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark. Obiang was re-elected in 2009.

4. The economy of Equatorial Guinea has been revolutionised by the discovery of large oil reserves in 1996. As a result, according to World Bank figures, Equatorial Guinea has the world’s 22nd highest per capita income (the UK is 20th), although it's concentrated in the hands of a small elite among the country’s 676,000 population.

5. The Bantu, Equatorial Guinea’s ethnic majority, traditionally dance the bailele to drive off evil spirits. It is usually accompanied by a three- or four-piece orchestra featuring a mvet, an instrument that resembles a cross between a zither and a harp and can have up to 15 strings – an ideal souvenir for travelling fans.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

FEATURE, Wed 18 Jan: All change in Africa in two amazing years since the last ACoN – Jonathan Fadugba
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: New teams, new starts, new winner – the most unpredictable Cup of Nations yet – Jonathan Wilson
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Welcome to our football festival – Steven Pienaar
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic – Jonathan Wilson

How the kits are made

FourFourTwo Team — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:59:00 GMT

The Africa Cup of Nations is always a delight to the eye. The football, the fans... the new shirts. As usual, Puma have been getting busy and the designs for the new shirts have been created in conjunction with local artists. Watch on to find out more...

GABON
The proud co-hosts will be stepping out in a shirt designed by local artist Owanto, and with the team nicknamed The Panthers there was only one place to start. “I love the idea of the players wearing the skin of a big cat,” says Owanto. “I wanted to develop this with a camouflaged panther skin print to the entire football kit but football’s governing bodies wouldn’t allow it.” A team of panthers: if only!

GHANA
Specialising in paint, mixed media collages and printmaking, Ghanaian artist Godfried Donkor took his inspiration from the Black Stars’ performances at the 2010 World Cup: “The diagonally falling dark stars mirror the team in formation, in attack and in defence, protecting the red, gold and green stars, which are the national interest.”

IVORY COAST
It’s a scary thought: Yaya Toure bearing down on you in goal, an elephant emblazoned across his chest. “I wanted to use the force and power of the elephant to inspire,” admits local designer Ernest Duku. The kit’s power to intimidate is enhanced by the fit, which like all the tops here, is tighter than the average jersey to emphasise the players’ physique.

SENEGAL
Stretching across Senegal’s jersey, figure-hugging to prevent shirt-pulling, is the Baobab tree. “Growing up playing football in Senegal, the Baobab tree used to act as a guardian, sharing its shade and fruit with everyone,” says the artist behind the shirt, Samba Fall. “It’s a symbol of good memories that the team can take to the tournament.”

There's more information on the shirts at puma.com/football.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic – Jonathan Wilson
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Welcome to our football festival – Steven Pienaar
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: New teams, new starts, new winner – the most unpredictable Cup of Nations yet – Jonathan Wilson
FEATURE, Wed 18 Jan: All change in Africa in two amazing years since the last ACoN – Jonathan Fadugba

Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic

Jonathan Wilson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:35:00 GMT

It's a crazy old tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations – and this year's competition should be no exception. Jonathan Wilson gives you the loco lowdown on what to expect in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Most likely to turn up despite not qualifying... South Africa
With Egypt unsettled, it should have been a breeze for South Africa to qualify ahead of Niger and Sierra Leone. Not only did they fail, but they did so in the most embarrassing manner possible, believing a draw in the final game was enough. Like Cameroon and Gabon in the previous Cup of Nations, though, they’d failed to understand how head-to-head worked in a three-way tie.

As players celebrated on the pitch and TVs broadcasted a congratulatory interview with the president of the federation, the awful truth dawned. The federation compounded its embarrassment by threatening legal action to have goal difference rather than head-to-head used to separate sides level on points.

South Africa players in raptures – before the penny drops

Most likely to not keep a clean sheet... Sudan
The Falcons of Jediane have conceded in each of their last nine ACoN matches. In fact, the last game they won in the tournament format was the 1970 final.

Most likely to flummox commentators... Jerome Ramatlhakwane
You try pronouncing the surname of the Botswana striker, who scored five of the Zebras’ seven goals in qualifying. No, us neither.

Most likely to give up a seemingly unassailable lead... Angola
The Sable Antelopes were on the wrong end of the biggest comeback in ACoN history in 2010, surrendering a four-goal lead after 74 minutes to draw 4-4 with Mali. Meanwhile, a 19-year-old student called ‘Big Matt’ lost £4,400 on an in-game bet, trying to win an easy £44. Oops.

Most likely to carry an elephant’s tooth in his boot... Boubacar Barry
When Ivory Coast last won the Cup of Nations, in 1992, keeper Alain Gouamene supposedly carried an elephant’s tooth in his boot that witch doctors said would make him loom as big as an elephant when forwards bore down on him. Whatever the reason, he didn’t concede a single goal in the tournament. The error-prone Barry could do with similar assistance.

Most likely to hit Row Z... Tunisia
The 2004 champions managed just four shots on target in three games at the 2010 ACoN.

Most likely to kill a guinea fowl... Guinea fans
The occasion was Guinea vs Morocco, at the 2008 ACoN in Ghana. The national anthems and handshakes over, the players jogged into their own halves. As most of the crowd waited for kick-off, in the stand behind one of the goals, a roar went up.

As the rest of the stadium peered to see what was going on, a fat, bearded man, naked to the waist and wearing an elaborate band in his hair, held up a white bird, still twitching as blood dripped from it. He handed it to one of his two assistants and, from a small wooden cage, took another bird. He squatted, hopping from foot to foot, then took a knife and slit its throat before, wide-eyed, holding it aloft and chanting. He went through the ritual for a third time.

Guinea went on to win 3-2, despite a second-half red card for Pascal Feindouno, a result that effectively took them through to the second round. The Ghanaian papers the next day were adamant: one goal for each guinea fowl slaughtered. Something went badly wrong in the second round, though, and Guinea lost 5-0 to Ivory Coast. They failed to qualify for Angola two years ago but this time, having eliminated Nigeria, they are back, and will surely have brought their birdkiller with them.

"Uh-oh, Guinea have a penalty"

Most likely to regret their political history... Equatorial Guinea
In 1977, the dissident Equatoguinean politician Valentin Bisan-Etame was jailed. His wife was pregnant with the boy the world would later know as the full-back Lauren. There was only one way things could get worse, and it happened as Valentin was sentenced to death.

What happened next sounds more like the plot of an implausible thriller than the opening chapter in a footballer’s life story. “My uncle was in the military,” Lauren explains, “and when the order went out to kill the political prisoners, he helped them to get out – not just my father but others too. They killed some people, but my father escaped just in time, as he was on the execution list. He ran away to Cameroon, and my uncle too.”

Lauren’s mother had already fled with her children. “She was pregnant with me, and if our family hadn’t escaped, I probably wouldn’t have been born,” Lauren says. “We lived in Cameroon until I was three years old, and after that we went to Spain, because Guinea was a Spanish colony.”

The family grew up in Seville, and Lauren began his career at Sevilla, although he never played for their first team, moving on to Levante, Mallorca, Arsenal and Portsmouth before winding down his career at Cordoba in Spain. He could have played for one of three different countries: he chose Cameroon and won 24 caps.

Most likely to contest a scoreless final followed by a penalty shootout... Ivory Coast
The Elephants have won one ACoN and lost one via the dreaded spot-kicks; both games finished 0-0 in normal time. In 1992, it took 24 penalties for the final to be settled, Ivory Coast eventually triumphing 11-10.

One thing’s for sure: they should reach the knockout stages, at least, having never lost to any of their Group B opponents – Sudan, Angola and Burkina Faso – at the ACoN. There’s a first time for everything, mind.

Ivory Coast celebrate their epic shootout win in 1992

Most likely to be buoyed by ‘new country’ syndrome... Libya
Montenegro are just the latest in a string of Balkan nations to benefit from the surge of patriotic pride that follows a revolution or newly gained independence. Although Egypt’s qualification was derailed by the Arab Spring, Tunisia won the CHAN (the tournament for domestically-based players) in 2011 shortly after their uprising. Libya, who changed kit to match the colours of the National Transitional Council in September, are the most likely beneficiaries in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Most likely to be the best at the tournament who has played in El Salvador... Didier Ovono
The Gabon goalkeeper was outstanding in Angola two years ago, particularly in the 1-0 win over Cameroon. A fine shot-stopper, if not necessarily the most commanding, Ovono is now settled at Le Mans, but his route there is as winding as can be imagined.

The Gabon government paid for him to join the academy run by former Cameroon keeper Thomas Nkono in Barcelona. After four years in Gabon, he was signed up by Alianza in El Salvador before returning to Europe with the Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira. Then it was off east to Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia, then he eventually arrived in Le Mans in 2009. “Nkono taught me everything I know,” he said.

Team most likely to not win a single game... Burkina Faso
The Stallions have never won a game – never – in the ACoN away from home soil, losing 13 and drawing four.

Most likely to blow your stats-addled mind… Free ACoN Stats Zone app
Yes, it's back – the award-winning statistical anaylsis app from FourFourTwo and Opta returns with a special ACoN edition. Follow @StatsZone on Twitter to find out more. Did we mention it's free?

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

New teams, new starts, new winner – the most unpredictable Cup of Nations yet

Jonathan Wilson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:08:00 GMT

The gathering in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea is one of the hardest competitions to predict. Jonathan Wilson explains

We know already that this Africa Cup of Nations will yield a new champion. The years of Egyptian domination are over, and emphatically so. The transition from one generation to the next is always difficult, but it was compounded in Egypt’s case by the chaos of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak. Where Libya were inspired by their revolution, Egypt faltered, and the winner of the last three ACoNs – a record achievement – finished bottom of their qualifying group.

Tunisia, who won the Cup of Nations on home soil in 2004, will be there, but none of the five champions before that will be in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon, winners in 2000 and 2002, fell to a resurgent Senegal. South Africa, the winners in 1996, somehow failed to capitalise on Egypt’s decline. Nigeria, winners in 1994, continued their slapstick cycle of underachievement by conceding a late equaliser against Guinea that cost them a place as a best runner-up.

That leaves as clear favourites Ivory Coast, who won the tournament for the only time in their history in 1992, and Ghana, who have won it four times but not since 1982. In a sense they represent two different generations of African football.

Ivory Coast are the very recent past, with a squad of established stars such as Didier Drogba and the Toure brothers who must wonder how on earth they haven’t yet won a Cup of Nations. Ghana, with an array of young talent drawn from the side that won the Under-20 World Cup in 2009, reached the final in Angola two years ago, were by far the best African side at the World Cup, and could dominate the continent’s football for much of the near future. The question, then, is which of them represents the present.

Will Toure's team or Gyan's gang triumph?

Tournament football, of course, is never that simple. Senegal, rejuvenated and rebuilt after the failure to qualify two years ago, have a potent strike force. On home soil, Gabon, having improved radically over the past few years, could push hard for the title. “We have the advantage of playing at home, and turn that into high motivation to drive us through the group stage,” says their coach Gernot Rohr.

The other host, Equatorial Guinea, are one of three sides making their first Cup of Nations appearance, and are the lowest-ranked side in the competition, lying 151st in the FIFA standings. “Whatever the draw, all the teams would have been above us,” says their coach, the experienced Henri Michel. “Every game will be like attacking Everest. For us, the task is almost insurmountable. If we succeed it will be a major feat. We will try to look good.”

The two other debutants, Botswana and Niger, may feel the same way. That said, Botswana qualified so impressively they were the first side to book their place in the finals, while Niger ousted Egypt and South Africa. The question, of course, is what this means for African football as a whole.

Is this about the traditional powers underperforming, or is it about the rise of new forces? Is this about the development of African football stalling – while Ghana were within a Luis Suarez handball of becoming the first African World Cup semi-finalist, they were the only African side to make it through the groups – or does the greater range of teams qualifying for tournaments suggest a greater maturity, a new strength in depth?

Quite aside from who wins the tournament, it is that issue that makes this Cup of Nations particularly fascinating. Modern football is often about seeing the familiar names battling it out in slightly different permutations. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, though, offers something new. The make-up of the teams alone mean this will be an Africa Cup of Nations like no other. Enjoy!

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

FEATURE, Wed 18 Jan: All change in Africa in two amazing years since the last ACoN – Jonathan Fadugba
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Welcome to our football festival – Steven Pienaar
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic – Jonathan Wilson

Welcome to our football festival, by Steven Pienaar

Guest Writer — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:42:00 GMT

He won't be there himself – South Africa were one of several 'established' nations not to qualify – but Tottenham midfielder Steven Pienaar will be watching the Africa Cup of Nations as a true fan...

The Africa Cup of Nations is always a huge occasion, because it is one of the biggest football tournaments on the planet. It’s such an important moment for the fans of every country and a celebration of African football as a whole. Africans are crazy about football and the way this tournament brings the whole continent together to enjoy the game is very inspiring.

The Africa Cup of Nations is very different to other tournaments and combines everything that is special about African football. There has been much poverty and several civil wars throughout the continent over the past few decades, and during all this football has been the only sport that could really bring people together.

The supporters are very passionate and the atmosphere during a tournament, both in the stadiums and around on the streets, is crazy! Everywhere is filled with music, colour, dancing and a huge love of the game. Going to a Cup of Nations match is like going to a festival.

Let's go: the 2010 opening ceremony...

There were a few surprises during the qualification stage for this year’s tournament and some of the strongest African teams like Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and us, South Africa, did not qualify. This means that Ghana and Ivory Coast are probably the favourites going into the group stages. But we shouldn’t forget teams such as Morocco, Senegal and Mali, who all performed really well in qualification. So there could still be a few surprises, and I think there is actually no team you could completely rule out of winning it this year.

Then there are the hosts, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It was amazing to play in the 2010 World Cup in my home country. It definitely gives you a special feeling to represent your nation in your own backyard. One of the highlights for me was the fantastic support from the home fans, who totally embraced the event. I’m sure the host nations this time around will get a lift from that.

Not qualifying for this year’s Cup of Nations and the circumstances around it happening were really hard; the whole of South Africa was so disappointed not to make it. We were in a tough group in which three teams had the chance to qualify going into the final round of matches, and it ended badly for us. But we are now focused on ensuring we are at our strongest for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be hosted in our country.

We already proved to everyone in 2010 that South Africa can host international tournaments of this scale, and 2013 will once again be a perfect opportunity for us to show the world our culture and enthusiasm for football. Hopefully we can conquer the continent next time around!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this year’s tournament.

Thanks to Puma. Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

FEATURE, Wed 18 Jan: All change in Africa in two amazing years since the last ACoN – Jonathan Fadugba
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: New teams, new starts, new winner – the most unpredictable ACoN yet – Jonathan Wilson
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic – Jonathan Wilson

All change in Africa in two amazing years since the last Cup of Nations

Jonathan Fadugba — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Welcome to our new ACoN section. To begin with, Jonathan Fadugba – Editor of Just-Football.com (and chief correspondent for FFT.com's United States of Africa) – looks at the recent past and immediate future of African football…

When Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, spoke to the world's media just days before the start of the tournament in South Africa, he did so with the exhausted yet satisfied glow of a man about to witness successful fruition of a turbulent 16-year journey. "It will be a moment to cherish but, also, a moment to remember our past," he stated.

Nineteen months later, the time has come to savour another marker in the sand of African football's picturesque landscape – the 28th edition of the African Cup of Nations. The party moves some 700 miles north this year, from Luanda to Libreville, as the continent's undisputed sporting showpiece treads new ground in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, following on from Angola 2010.

Before considering ACoN 2012, with all the intrigue and excitement it promises, a moment to reflect. Jordaan's words strike a chord on the eve of this Cup of Nations: in the two years between Ahmed Hassan triumphantly hoisting Egypt's third consecutive trophy in Luanda and the current final preparations from Malabo to Franceville, African football has lived through a kaleidoscope of emotions.

Those 24 months have brought tragedy, triumph, success, failure, growth, development and widespread upheaval – both sporting and political. And although it's undoubtedly simplistic to generalise about a uniformity of emotions across a continent comprising more than 50 nations, the Pan-African sense of unity and spirit – exemplified at the World Cup through South Africa's post-elimination 'BaGhana BaGhana' support – does suggest at least a semblance of collective conscience where football is concerned.

In two short years the face of African football has changed. At the start of 2010, eager smiles turned to despair and heartbreak after bullets rained down on the Togo national team bus making its way to the tournament, a terrorist attack that left three dead and the world in shock. Egypt's record third consecutive crown broke new boundaries, but as an event the tournament was permanently scarred. Prominent figures questioned with renewed conviction the sagacity of an African World Cup.

Tragedy in Angola was followed months later by triumph in South Africa with the eminently successful staging of World Cup 2010, a defiant poke in the eye for the naysayers and curmudgeons that thought Africa incapable of such feats (Uli Hoeness, I'm looking at you). On the pitch, Ghana's emergence as a modern international power was a mere crossbar's coat of paint away from being confirmed by history.

Rightly or wrongly, World Cup 2010 saw the maturation of a continent in the eyes of the world in terms of organisational ability, esteem and respect. Before it, Africa was considered untrustworthy, an unnecessary risk. After it, the "doubters became believers" according to Jordaan. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke claimed South Africa would be "Plan B" for future World Cups. Many try to count legacy in dollars and cents, but the psychological impact, the global shift in perception, was priceless.

Job done: Fans leave Soccer City after the World Cup final

From there, the warm glow of a job well done transformed to the white hot sear of revolution. Although it's not possible to prove a direct link between Northern Africa's political uprising and revolutionary regime changes and the concurrent crumbling of African football's traditional order, but the manner in which the two coincided displayed a certain neat symmetry. The potential emergence of new footballing powers and the ominous absence of fallen kings, gazing on solemnly from the shadows, are sure to be consistent memes as affairs in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea unfold.

African football has always possessed a certain charm. From the touring "wizards in bare feet" that captured English imaginations in the late 1940s to the larger-than-life multi-millionaire stars dazzling crowds globally today, Africa has always been seen – and to a certain extent seen itself– through the prism of its football. The game that causes "young men to faint, holy men to swear and strong men to become impotent for a day," as Nigerian sports writer Samuel Akpabot once put it, continues to do so, as a competition that pre-dates the European Championships embarks on its latest unpredictable chapter.

To begin, on Saturday the co-hosts Equatorial Guinea meet Libya – as unfathomably barmy an opening game as you could imagine, completely indicative of the fluctuating state of African football. Is it a sign of progress or regress? Has the talent pool widened or drained? Are these the hallmarks of a brave new world or warning signs of a desperately mediocre one?

It is the unanswered questions that lend football its captivating beauty. Is this finally Ghana's year? Who are the emerging powers? Does the absence of Nigeria, Cameroon and holders Egypt represent a permanent shattering of the status quo or a temporary blip? How will Gabon and Equatorial Guinea fare as hosts? Is it last chance saloon for Ivory Coast's golden generation? How many strikers can Senegal actually field at one time? Will Demba Ba score more goals than he drinks bottles of syrup?

The answers will come. The past two years have been memorable; the future is to be cherished.

Follow the Cup with FourFourTwo's news, analysis and new ACoN version of Stats Zone – it's all free!

FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: New teams, new starts, new winner – the most unpredictable ACoN yet – Jonathan Wilson
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Welcome to our football festival – Steven Pienaar
FEATURE, Thu 19 Jan: Crazy bets, naked beardies and animal magic – Jonathan Wilson