Africa Make its Choices

Africa Makes its Choices.

The lists are in, and 388 players are making their way to Ghana for the African Cup of Nations which starts next Sunday. The biennial event continues to annoy the coaches of many a European team, as they lose their players for a month – but it is these players that the fans and the world’s media will be filling the stadiums to see.

TV viewers will be able to see the matches from England, so long as they have some type of cable/satellite/digital set. The matches are being shown on Eurosport, and on the BBCi services, with highlights programmes on BBC3. I do not know if I would want to watch two back to back matches every night on TV, but if I was not in Africa, I may well have my set tuned for those highlights at 7pm every night.

No doubt all the major clubs will have their scouts in position as well, but they are not interested in the stars of the Premiership. Slightly more than a third of the players in these championships still ply their trade with African clubs, and many know this is the place to get noticed and open up for the dream move to Europe. There are 112 players, out of the 368 total that play for ‘home country clubs’, with another 30 playing within Africa, most notably in South Africa, where 9 Namibians, 5 Zambians and one player from Benin are playing. Most of the rest play in Europe, with the French supplying 57 of the players, and England proving 41. There are also a handful of players who have with teams in Arab states around the gulf, and one each playing in the USA and Mexico.

Sudan is the only country that only uses players from within their local league. Indeed they select from only two clubs, with 12 players from local league champions Al Hilal, and the other 11 from Al Merreikh – who finished as runners-up in the league and beat their rivals in the domestic cup final. Sudan are considered to be one of the weakest teams in the competition. This may be unfair as they finished ahead of 2004 champions Tunisia in qualifying. Should Sudan achieve anything this year, then several of their players will be closely watched. Sudan also provides a single player, Elijah Tana of Al Merreikh to another squad, in this case Zambia.

At the other end of the chain, Nigeria is the only country that selects its squad entirely from outside its own borders – seven Premiership players make this the most Anglo-centric of the squads – Yobo and Aiyegbeni of Everton, Utaka and Kanu of Portsmouth, Obi from Chelsea, Martins from Newcastle and Etuhu from Sundaerland are joined by Shittu (Watford) and Olofinjana (Wolves). The Nigerian team is spread across the UEFA nations, with four in France, but also players in Israel, Romania and Bulgaria. The only player representing the Nigerian League in the tournament will be the Benin goalkeeper, Chitou Rachad. Naturally, the Nigerians are expected to be among the favourites.

The Benin squad is also widely spread, with just one playing in England – Romauld Bocco who is a defender with Accrington Stanley. Their squad also includes a player from Serie D club Casale in Italy, and the player coach, Alain Gaspoz from Bagnes in the Swiss 2nd Amateur Liga (which is the fifth level of football there). Recent winners Egypt and Tunisia, along with South Africa are all looking the their own leagues to make an impact. The Egyptians have chosen 17 local players, the South Africans have 15 and the Tunisian have 12. Egypt also play Mohamed Shawky from Middlesbrough, Tunisia play Rahdi Jaidi and Mehdi Nafti from Birmingham City, while South Africa use Steven Pienaar and Aaron Mokoena of Blackburn – but not his team mate Benni McCarthy. The South African team are gearing up for their home world cup, more than this tournament, and have not impressed in recent African cups anyway. Egypt and Tunisia, having both won at home, need to show their mettle south of the Sahara, and their players have experience of this in the African club competitions.

The Ivory Coast and Senegal – both of whom will be listed with the favourites use seven players from England each. The Ivorians include Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure of Arsenal, Abdoulaye Meita of Bolton, Emerse Fae of Reading, Didier Zakora of Spurs, plus Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou of Chelsea. There are also six from the French league and four from the Bundesliga in a squad whose only local player is a goalkeeper. Senegal’s local player in Lamine Diatta, only listed as such because he is currently without a club. Reading’s Ibrahima Sonko is hoping to make his international debut in the competition, while also included are Habib Beye and Abdoulaye Faye (Newcastle), Papa Bouba Diop (Portsmouth), El Hadji Diouf (Bolton) and two Kamaras – Diomansy of Fulham and Henri of West Ham.

Home advantage is important in Africa, and I expect the hosts – who have won the tournament four times before (twice at home) to do well. They have selected Birmingham goalkeeper Richard Kingson, along with John Pantsil (West Ham), Michael Essian (Chelsea), Sulley Muntari (Portsmouth) and Junior Agogo of Nottingham Forest. The Ghanian squad also includes three locals, and what at first glance appears to be the two travelling the furthest for the tournament, Alhassan Illiasu and Baffour Gyan – both of FC Saturn. This turns out not to be from the ringed planet, but from Oblast, somewhere near the Moscow ring-road. Hence the longest travelling player for the tournament is probably Bouna Coundoul, the Senegalese goalkeeper who also keeps for Colorado Rapids in the USA, although Alain Nkong a midfield with Mexican side Atlante, and part of the Cameroon squad runs him close.

Cameroon are the last of the sides to mention who I think have a chance of winning, and they will depend a lot on star forwards such as Barcelona; Samuel Eto’o and Jaseph Desire Job, well known in England, but now playing for Nice. Cameroon can field Andrew Bikey of Reading, Geremi of Newcastle, or Alexandre Song of Arsenal. A second player listed as from Arsenal is Paul Essola, but as that is Arsenal Kiev, the London club do not lose another. Cameroon also have a player at FC Saturn, and just the one in the local league, not unsurprisingly a goalkeeper, Javier Mbarga.

Frederic Kanoute, now with Sevilla is the most well player in the Mali squad – and he is confident enough that he is going to turn up for the tournament. (He has retired from internationals at least once in the past, returning when the team qualified for a tournament, but did play his part in qualifying this time, including the away goal in Togo that put Mali through, and Togo out of the competition). The English representatives in this side are Momo Sissoko of Liverpool and Stoke’s Mamady Sibide. The Mali squad has six players in the French league, and a second player Mahamadou Diarra of Real Madrid in La Liga but it also features players who play in Morocco and Algeria.

The final two players travelling to Ghana from England are safri Youssef of Coventry and Morocco, and Rui Marques of Leeds United and Angola. The Moroccan squad features four players from local leagues, and six from France, but otherwise has very diverse call-ups. The Angolans will depend a lot on the Portuguese league, seevn of the 13 players travelling from Portugal will play for Angola. Apart from Sudan, the Englisg league is not represented by Namibia, Zamabia and Guinea – both Namibia (9) and Zambia (10) have a high concentration of local players in the squad, as well as the large numbers based in South Africa. Guinea will depend a lot on the French league, and also have a big contingent playing in Turkey.

The Groups.

Group A will feature the hosts Ghana, along with Guinea, Morocco and Namibia. With home advantage, Ghana are big favourites to take this group with most eyes on the match between Guinea and Morocco to see who joins them in the next round. Few people rate Namibia. Ghana will need to hit the ground running though, as if they lose points in the opening game against Guinea, theire position will be immediately under threat.

Group B features Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali and Benin. Nigeria will play the Ivory Coast in the first game, and the winner will be favourite to win the group. Personally, I do not see either of the others as strong enough to qualify.

Group C. Egypt, Cameroon, Zambia and Sudan. Again the biggest match, Egypt for Cameroon comes first. This may not be the end of the group though, as the Zambian team may well be the dark horse of the tournament, and could go through at the expense of the current holders.

Group D features Tunisa, Senegal, South Africa and Angola – and I feel that both Tunisia and Senegal who meet up first should qualify.

My pick for the semi-finals are Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Senegal. As I have chosen one from each group, I am also picking these as group winners. I have not selected any north African sides for the last four, although I expect Tunisa and Morocco to reach the knock out stage. All these four are capable of winning the tournament, and I would not like to pick. I will put up one thought for consideration, home advantage is important in Africa – Egypt and Tunisia won the last two tournaments on home turf, and Ghana have won the tournament four times in the past – twice as hosts.