cameroon

The Ultimate Cameroon V Denmark Tipping Contest!
 
This could be the match that decides which team finishes in the Group E qualifying places and books their place in the last sixteen. It should be a keenly-fought contest, but do you have the skill to predict which team will win when Cameroon play Denmark? The generous folk at Paddy Power have given soccerbetting.info/online-betting.me.uk no less than £500 in free bets and somebody has to win them!

The first prize is a massive £150, while there are nine other prizes between £10 and £100 for those that are also spot-on with their prediction. In order to get your hands on some free cash, simply take the following steps:

1) Sign up at Paddy Power using this link
2) Deposit and place at least one bet with this bookmaker
3) Send an email to competitions@soccerbetting.info with the subject line “I want a free bet with Paddy Power”. You should include the following details:

- Your Cameroon v Denmark prediction (Cameroon win, Denmark win or draw)
- Your Paddy Power username
- The date you signed up and the first deposit amount

The deadline for all entries is 7.25pm on 19th June, which is five minutes before the match kicks off. One lucky participant will be walking away with a first prize of £150 for getting the match verdict right – will it be you?

Next to this one, we are organizing 2 other World Cup tipping contests:

The Ultimate World Cup Winner Tipping Contest!

The Ultimate Ivory Coast V Portugal Tipping Contest!

The Ultimate Cameroon V Denmark Tipping Contest!

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.

The African Cup of Nations is rapidly heading towards the Quarter Final stages, with Sunday’s two matches already lined up. As expected, the Ivory Coast and the injury stricken Ghana are through, while England’s World Cup 2010 opponents Algeria have managed to qualify from their group. Algeria, in all honesty, have not looked like any kind of threat throughout their group stage matches at all, and come the big tournament in South Africa in June, England should not have too much to worry about.

Algeria finish on level points with Mali, but qualified in second spot, simply because they won the head to head battle against Mali, who they defeated 1-0. Mali may be feeling a little hard done by, as they were at least entertaining in front of goal, hitting seven in their three matches. How many did Algeria score? Just the one in three games, but it proved to be a crucial one. Now we will see how they fare against the tournament favourites, Ivory Coast, and it will give a good indication of just what level they are at.

Ironically, the team which Algeria beat in the World Cup Qualifying Play-Off, Egypt, have looked one of, if not the, strongest team in the tournament, and have produced far better quality than what Algeria have. The current holders do pose a real threat to Ivory Coast’s hopes, as they look good enough to go and reclaim the title. Egypt won their group easily, by three victories from their three matches. In their somewhat abridged group after Togo‘s withdrawal, the Ivory Coast finished top ahead of Ghana. Both of those fancied teams though, did struggle to get a result against stubborn Burkina Faso, with Ghana’s 1-0 victory over them, enough to get them through. Ghana, who are missing a lot of first team choices, got hit with further bad news, when Chelsea’s Michael Essien was ruled out for the rest of the tournament through injury.

But Ghana’s reward for their triumph over Burkina Faso, is a quarter final tie against host nation Angola. Angola won their group, looking very entertaining for both good and bad reason, ahead of Algeria. Not even the fancied Cameroon have been producing to their expected level, and some of the performances by the top African teams, will have cast a little doubt over how competitive they just may be at South Africa 2010.

In Group 4, the last one to be settled, Cameroon’s defeat in their first game to the Gabon, means that there is the potential of them playing Egypt if they finish as runners up in their group. If Cameroon can get ahead of the Gabon in the final round of group matches, then they will have the slightly easier task against Nigeria. Cameroon had to scrape out a 3-2 win over Zambia in their second match, so just a point in their final match against Tunisia, who have looked surprisingly dull, will get them through to the Quarter Finals.

January 21 Group Matches
Cameroon to win: 10/11 at BetFred
Draw: 13/5 at Stan James
Tunisia to win: 15/4 at Stan James

Gabon to win: 8/5 at Expekt
Draw: 9/4 at Boylesports
Zambia to win: 2/1 at Stan James

January 24th Quarter Finals
Angola to win: 17/10 at ExtraBet
Draw: 9/4 at Coral
Ghana to win: 13/8 at Blue Square

Ivory Coast to win: 11/17 at Bwin
Draw: 11/4 at 888Sport
Algeria to win: 9/2 at SportingBet

African Cup of Nations Outright Winner
Ivory Coast – 2/1 at ExtraBet
Egypt – 4/1 at Extrabet
Cameroon – 6/1 at Ladbrokes
Nigera – 8/1 at Totesport
Ghana – 9/1 at Ladbrokes

Despite all the tragic surroundings involving the Togo team ahead of the African Cup of Nations, the tournament is still pressing ahead, with its opening game on Sunday between hosts Angola and Mali. The events may be a little overshadowed by the horrific scenes at the border, on which gunfire fatally opened up on the Togo team bus, which has led to the Togo team withdrawing from the competition. They would have opened their account against Ghana on Monday, but it is not to be. The tournament pressing ahead, seems to be a positive move in the face of adversity. It would be all too easy to cancel everything, but, as the old axiom goes, the show must go on. While a lot of thought will spared for the victims involved, positivity comes from moving on and the tournament now has a big chance to unite everyone.

Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast will be strong favourites to lift the cup, and the draw has thrown together in a group with team mate Michael Essien’s Ghana, though in Group B. They place a nice style of football, and with Togo’s withdrawal, it leaves them and the Ivory Coast as clear favourites to qualifying, with Burkina Faso being the only other team. The African Cup of Nations does provide some great football, and hopefully it will not just be remembered as the tournament which Togo pulled out of for tragic reasons. The colourful Cameroon side will be entertaining and dangerous as well, and they should have a comfortable qualification from group D, with on Tunisia who should be able to challenge them.

While a winner of the tournament is not going to come from Group A, which includes the hosts Angola, Egypt and Nigeria square off in Group C, which should be entertaining. Egypt are the current holders of the African Cup of Nations trophy, and will be looking for a big tournament again, seeing as how they have nothing to do in the summer, after losing out on qualification to the World Cup to bitter rivals Algeria. Algeria are of course, in England’s World Cup 2010 group, and it will be a good chance to assess the unknown quantity, and there will be members of the England management watching them at some point (though it won’t be Fabio Capello himself).

So who to look at when making a bet? Well, this will depend on whether you like betting on favourites or not. To be honest, looking at the state of affairs for the African Cup of Nations, there doesn’t appear to be an outright favourite, but there are three teams which are on a very close par. No surprises that they are the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroon. There are World Class players on show for all of them, with a lot of players from Europe, including the Premier League. If anything, the draw is going to heavily favour Ghana and Ivory Coast, because they will have to play their quarter final matches against the teams from the weakest group, Group A. That should influence things a bit, and while smart money will probably go on Ivory Coast, look for good prices on Ghana and Cameroon, even if they are each way bets.

African Cup of Nations Outright Winner:
Ivory Coast – 9/4 at SkyBet
Cameroon – 11/2 at SkyBet
Ghana – 6/1 at Ladbrokes
Nigeria – 17/2 at Expekt
Egypt – 9/1 at William Hill

While the snowy weather will see many matches postponed in England throughout January, there should be no such problems in Angola, where the 27th African Cup of Nations will take place. While many Premier League managers would describe this tournament as nothing more than an inconvenience, there’s no denying that this is a vibrant competition featuring many of the world’s best footballers. It’s also an opportunity to check out several of the teams who will be lining up at the 2010 World Cup, although here are a few pointers when it comes to placing your bets on the ANC.

1)    The host nation tends to do well

Home advantage shouldn’t be underestimated in Angola, especially when you consider that every host nation has qualified for the knockout stages since 1992. Furthermore, since the biennial competition began in 1957, there have only been four occasions when the team playing on home soil hasn’t reached the semi-finals. Benfica’s Pedro Mantorras is a classy striker who can certainly help them on their way out of Group A, while former Manchester United forward Manucho should also be a force to be reckoned with. While we shouldn’t place too much pressure on a team that’s just emerged from a civil war, it’s worth noting that Tunisia (2004) and Egypt (2006) both won the competition recently as hosts.

2)    Egypt have won the last two renewals

While Egypt winning the tournament on home soil in 2006 was a great achievement, it was even more impressive when they successfully defended their crown two years later. While the Pharaohs controversially missed out on a World Cup place after losing in a play-off to Algeria, it might make them all the more determined to win this tournament and complete a hat-trick. Although Mido and Amr Zaki will not be featuring for the Egyptians this time around, the team have a quality striker in Mohamed Zidan, while former Spurs midfielder Hossam Ghaly will bring plenty of experience.

3)    There should be plenty of goals scored

While many people associate the ANC as a competition featuring low-scoring matches, this trend was bucked in 2008 and there’s every reason to suggest that the goals will be flying in this time around. Of the 32 matches played two years ago, 19 featured three goals or more, with five of the six Ivory Coast games involving Over 2.5 Goals. While Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou offer plenty in attack, the Cote D’Ivoire are also vulnerable at the back.

The Ivory Coast are currently favourites (5/2 Stan James) to win the 2010 African Cup of Nations, although the market leaders will have to cope with high expectations and their last triumph came along in 1992. Two victories and one runner-up place in the past five tournaments suggest that Cameroon (11/2 Sporting Bet) might be a better bet at twice the odds, especially with the excellent Samuel Eto’o leading the line.