AFCON 2013 Group C
Saturday 19th Jan and the African Nations Cup in
South Africa will be under way.
Zambia will hope to retain their title as the Champions of
Africa. They won it last year (2012) but have to defend it less than a year later
because there was a need to get it in odd years when it wouldn't clash with the
World Cup as it would have done if it was held next year.
With that basic explanation out of the way, I would like to wish
all 16 nations the best of luck in the tournament and hope this turns out to be
a magnificent spectacle of skill, talent and drama like the previous one.
Now, here is the deal. We will start with a question. Who is
crazy enough to think Zambia will defend the cup?
The Zambian players are full of enthusiasm and are still
euphoric about their efforts last year so too are the fans despite a run of
poor scoring form in the preparatory friendly matches in the last few months.
They are in Group C with Nigeria, whom they have had trouble
beating in the past, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia makes it a foursome.
Star Players in the
Group
Zambia
Emmanuel Mayuka has spent the last year at Southampton wasting
his talent away on the bench and will be lacking the much needed game fitness.
Hopefully, his ill-thought-out move to the Premier League club doesn't cost
Zambia in their defence of the trophy. Mayuka might get some confidence in the
state of affairs at his Club side as the manager Nigel Adkins got the sack from
his bosses for generally doing a poor job of their maiden Premier League
season. The other player Zambia will be relying on is their majestic Captain Christopher
Katongo. He was the integral part of the 2012 winning side with his tenacity
and goals. No one is in doubt that he is the man for the job and we can expect
to see him at it again. Let’s not forget Stophilla Sunzu who should put in a
decent performance in this tournament too.
Nigeria
Now, this is a side that we expect to see in the quarters at
least and they have an impressive list of players. We have heard of some and
some of the others are new. They are so confident of their side they left Peter
Odemwinge to his Premier League club side Westbrom. They were not crazy enough
to leave out John Obi-Mikel though. The Chelsea man will be in the thick of the
action and is the player that football experts think will get Nigeria nearer
winning the Cup. But I love Uche and hope to see a lot of him. Victor Moses has
got a lot of pace and will surely be more of a favourite as African crowds like to see pace and skill on
show and Mikel’s technical ability will not come through so much. What we know
is that we will be in for a great contest from these guys.
Ethiopia
Let me start by saying that I think Ethiopian people are
lovely............But I have never heard of their talent. The beauty of this
tournament is we invariably get to have a look at the players and hope there is
something new there. In a bid not embarrass myself; I will pick a few players
to watch without having to vouch for them. My picks are Saladin Said and Yusuf
Saleh. Watch these players and hopefully we will have more to say about them
through the tournament.
Burkina Faso
Wait a minute, don’t I know these guys? They had a forgettable
tournament last year and only a miracle could have improved them in such a
short time. Moumouni Dagano is the only player I remember vaguely so he
is my pick for these guys. A few of the players play for European teams but
that might work against them as it did for Senegal who where in a similar position
with even better players.
After the sneak peak at the sides in Group C, I have to go with
Nigeria and Zambia to go through but after last years tournament, anything can
happen. For Zambia, their biggest test and game of the group is Nigeria and
this can be seen on telly on the Friday the 25th.. mark your
calenders so we can analyse this match when it happens.
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