African Cup of Nations Quarter Final Betting Prices

The Quarter Finals of the African Cup of Nations start on Sunday, with two of the pre-tournament favourites in action. The African Cup of Nations, marred by the terrible attack on the Togo team bus, has managed to turn towards the positive, and live up to expectations by providing some thrilling footballing action. Right from the opening match which finished in an exhilarating 4-4 draw, there has been plenty of action to enjoy, largely fuelled by some upsets. The Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana have all had their difficult matches, with Egypt looking by far the strongest team in the competition so far.

Angola v Ghana
The first of the Quarter Final Matches on Sunday, sees host nation Angola, who won their group, play Michael Essien’s Ghana. Sadly though Essien has been ruled out of action for about six weeks after picking up an injury during training, and that has just compounded the injury problems which the nation has. They are fielding a largely young side, with so many players sitting on the sidelines. While the can’t field their strongest side, they will probably take positives that their back up players are getting some action and experience ahead of the 2010 World Cup later in the year. If they can field a full side there, they should be a handful for any team. Fortunately this draw has been kind to them, and they have a great chance to progress against Angola.
Angola to win: 6/4 at SkyBet
Draw: 11/5 at Totesport
Ghana: 12/5 at Bet365

Ivory Coast v Algeria
This should be a banker for Didier Drogba and his Ivory Coast side. They had a slow start to the competition, where they only managed a 0-0 draw against Burkina Faso, but their strong victory over Ghana ensured that they progressed. Many believe that this is the time for the Ivory Coast to come good, having had a consistent team for the past few years. This really does represent their best chance of lifting the trophy. Their opponents Algeria really haven’t shown anything of note in the tournament, and have only managed one goal. If Fabio Capello has been studying the tapes, he will be confident that they are not going to cause any kind of surprise threat at the World Cup where they are in the same group as England.
Ivory Coast to win: 4/6 at BetFred
Draw: 11/4 at Bet365
Algeria: 5/1 at Coral

Egypt v Cameroon
The Egyptians, who somehow didn’t qualify for the World Cup against what appears to be a much weaker Algeria side, are looking in red hot form. They are the current African Cup of Nations champions, after upsetting Cameroon in the final of the last competition. Now Cameroon have a chance at revenge, but to be honest, they haven’t been as good as had hoped really. They have struggled for fluency and consistency, losing to Gabon and struggled to beat Zambia after going behind, and then could only manage a 2-2 draw against Tunisia. Not in great form, but still a serious threat if they can get their act together. Unfortunately, by them not winning their group, they have landed themselves a very tough quarter final draw.
Egypt to win: 17/11 at Expekt
Draw: 9/4 at Totesport
Cameroon to win: 2/1 at Ladbrokes

Zambia v Nigeria
Zambia, surprise winners of the group, after coming from bottom to top after the last round of group matches, will now fancy their chances against Nigeria. The Nigeria that are playing here, are not of the same quality as which some will remember from World Cup’s past. They simply have fallen a long way back from that sort of quality, and that will give Zambia some good heart to make it through to the last four of the competition. Their last group match victory over Gabon saw them steal top spot in the group, but Nigeria, who seriously got given a football lesson by Egypt in their group, will be favourite. They bounced back well after that and should on paper be stronger than Zambia. The winners of this match will play either Angola or Ghana, so there is even more incentive to progress, as they’ll avoid Egypt and Ivory Coast until the final.
Zambia to win: 4/6 at Coral
Draw: 13/5 at SportingBet
Zambia to win: 5/1 at Stan James

*Note that “Draw” will usually represent the score at the end of 90 minutes of play. As this is a knock-out stage, drawn matches will go to extra time and then penalties.