Ivory Coast through to Quarter Finals of African Cup of Nations

The African Cup of Nations, after its tragic start involving the withdrawal of Togo, has been throwing up some interesting results so far. It is still early days in the competition, but the majority of the major powerhouses have really yet to show their hands. The tournament started with a fantastic match involving Angola and Mali which ended in a four-all draw, with Mali netting four times in the last twelve minutes to rescue an incredibly unlikely draw. That perfectly set the tone for some exciting football for the early stage of the round of group matches. The second day of the tournament produced a double surprise. England’s World Cup 2010 opponents Algeria were played off the park in a 3-0 defeat by little fancied Malawi. If the England management were watching that game, they would not see too much to fear. Their subsequent 1-0 win over Mali would not have done much to inspire their hopes for making an impression at the World Cup 2010.

The Ivory Coast, favourites for the tournament due to their skill and experience, didn’t get their campaign off to an ideal start either. The Ivory Coast have had pretty much the same team for the past three African Cup of Nation tournaments, and combined with the world class players they have, are fancied to take the title this year. This surely should be their time. But they need to step up a gear as well, as they could only manage a 0-0 draw against Burkina Faso, who pretty much defended all of the match, but still, the worrying thing for the Ivory Coast, is that they could not find a way to break down the defence. With Togo withdrawing from their Group, the Ivory Coast needed to approach their match with Ghana with victory in mind to ensure their progression in the tournament.

Ghana should be a much stronger team than they are, and are having to field a relatively young side. With so many players missing through injury, it is a bit of a makeshift team, which doesn’t really represent their chances of making a big impression at the World Cup. Still, they gave the Ivory Coast a good game. After a slow start and falling behind one nil to a slick counter attack from the Ivory Coast, Ghana did respond really well, stringing some nice fluent plays together. They couldn’t however sustain enough pressure after the break to get back into the game, and the Ivory Coast ran out 3-1 winners with Chelsea’s Drogba netting in the 90th minute. They did suffer one casualty though, with Arsenal Emmanuel Eboue being sent off. But the victory sees them as the first team through to the quarter finals.

Egypt have been the most impressive so far. The current title holders breezed past Nigeria 3-1, showing that they really mean business. They are probably worth an each way bet, because they are good enough to get to the final, and they have bugged the Ivory Coast in the previous two tournaments by knocking them out, so they have good history there against this year’s fancied team. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises too, came in Cameroon’s opening match against the Gabon. Bear in mind that Cameroon is expected to be as much of a force in the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations as the Ivory Coast are. They suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Gabon. The Cameroon side will now need to pick up at least a victory against Zambia or Tunisia to get through.

So, sort of at the half way mark of the group stage matches, Group A is all to play for, with hosts Angola giving a good account of themselves at the top of the group, closely pursued by Malawi and Algeria. The Ivory Coast, with their victory over Ghana are looking in good position to reach the quarter finals, and Ghana now need to beat Burkina Faso to get through. Egypt should run out comfortable winners of Group C, while Gabon lead the way in Group D. The next round of matches in the group should sort things out, and everything could be really tight, or both Tunisia and Cameroon could be out at this early stage.

Forthcoming group stage matches to look out for in the African Cup of Nations is the Cameroon v Zambia clash on the 17th, and Angola v Algeria on the 18th.

African Cup of Nations Outright Winner:
Ivory Coast – 13/5 at Stan James
Egypt – 9/2 at BetFred
Cameroon – 6/1 at Ladbrokes
Ghana – 9/1 at Ladbrokes
Nigeria – 12/1 at SkyBet

Selected Match Prices
Cameroon to win: 8/15 at Coral
Draw: 10/3 at Totesport
Zambia to win: 6/1 at Bet365

Angola to win: 7/5 at Totesport
Draw: 9/4 at Coral
Algeria to win: 39/19 at Expekt