Group B: African Cup of Nations 2010 Preview (Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo)

Group B

Burkina Faso – Côte d’Ivoire – Ghana – Togo

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso must be getting sick of the sight of Côte d’Ivoire. Despite an excellent run in World Cup 2010 qualifying it was always going to be difficult to sneak into their group’s top spot for South Africa ahead of Didier Drogba and co. Lo and behold The Stallions eventually fell away despite keeping pace with one of Africa’s finest for a long while, and their dreams of a first ever World Cup appearance were put on hold.

Nonetheless, a place at their 7th African Cup of Nations was ensured and Burkina Faso are not to be taken lightly. In qualifying they topped their preliminary group ahead of Tunisia and pushed Côte d’Ivoire all the way, finishing behind them but above both Malawi and Guinea. Now Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte, who was sacked by French club Le Mans in December after failing to balance the Burkinabe national team job with coaching in the French second division, leads his team to Africa aiming to cause an upset.

Burkina Faso are in esteemed company in Group B so qualification is far from a simple task. But Duarte’s side are well organised and potent in attacking areas. Aristide Bancé was the star in Mainz 05’s promotion to the Bundesliga, scoring 14 league goals and a goal in every round of Mainz’s surprise run to the German Cup semi final, while Moumoni Dagano (Al-Khor) was Africa’s top scorer in World Cup qualifying with 12 goals, way ahead of Drogba, Eto’o and co. Another forward player to watch is Yssouf Koné (CFR Cluj). He was also prominent in qualifying, scoring two goals in a famous away win against Tunisia, and should cause opponents problems. Burkina Faso’s strategy will likely be attack, attack, attack.

Côte d’Ivoire

Making their 18th African Cup of Nations tournament, Côte d’Ivoire will once again be one of the teams to beat in Angola. Back in 2008 I called Ivory Coast the ‘best team in the competition’ based on their excellent performances up until the semi-finals. Then, in perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament, Egypt spanked Ivory Coast 4-1 in a game which left the nation with psychological scars that are still healing to this day. Overconfidence and a lack of discipline were blamed for that defeat, leading the nation’s FA to appoint disciplinarian coach Vahid Halilhodzic as their new manager. “No more room for complacency like in Ghana 2008. No game is won in advance,” Drogba has stated in the build-up to Angola 2010.

According to FIFA, Côte d’Ivoire are the 16th best international team in the world and second only to Cameroon in Africa. Many of their players are world renowned superstars plying their trade at some of the game’s biggest clubs. Halilhodzic has a squad packed to the rafters with talent. The spine is rock solid – Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Didier Zokora (Sevilla), Yaya Toure (FC Barcelona) and brother Kolo (Manchester City) form the foundations around which the team is built. Others like Kader Keita (Galatasaray), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart) and Bakary Kone (Olympique Marseille) provide added flair, pace and creativity. It is a formidable and, as you’ll know if you witnessed the regular dressing room scenes of singing and dancing in Ghana 2008, united squad.

One reason I feel Côte d’Ivoire will be even more dangerous this time around is because of their current predicament. This is a golden generation of talent for Les Éléphants, yet after failure on penalties in 2006 and in the 2008 semis, the country still has just one Cup of Nations victory to it’s name, back in 1992. With an extremely difficult World Cup draw and key players like Drogba now the wrong side of 30, Angola might well represent this group of Côte d’Ivoire players’ last chance to write their names into African football history.

Just like in 2008, Ivory Coast definitely have the talent. Now is the time to match talent with results.

Ghana

2009 was a vintage year for Ghana. The Black Stars were the first team to qualify for the 2010 African Cup of Nations, made it successfully to only their second ever World Cup finals and showered themselves in glory at youth level by winning the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. Now, with a handful of young U-20 World Cup winners sprinkled into a senior squad boasting a couple of genuine world class players, Ghanaian football is on the up.

Ghana head to Angola as second favourites to lift the trophy, but a host of injuries and a nat
ional dispute mean preparations haven’t quite gone to plan for coach Milovan Rajevac and his men. Influential stars Stephen Appiah, Laryea Kingston, John Mensah and John Paintsil are all ruled out of the tournament through injury, while Michael Essien, Hans Sarpei and Anthony Annan are all fighting to be fit for Ghana’s opening game against Togo. Meanwhile Sulley Muntari, one of the team’s shining lights, has been omitted from the squad by Rajevac as punishment for failing to show up for a friendly against Angola. Essien and Asamoah Gyan were also no-shows for that game, but they apologised promptly and paid the fine, something Muntari didn’t do within a timeframe reasonable to Rajevac.

Ghana’s hopes of winning a fifth African Cup of Nations and their first since 1982 depend largely on two factors: the fitness of talisman Michael Essien and the speed at which the young U-20 World Cup winning starlets can adapt to life as full internationals. Samuel Inkoom (FC Basle), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Sampdoria), Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille) and Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan) all look set to play a prominent role in Angola and how they fare will be crucial to Ghana’s success or failure. It is a lot of pressure to put on young heads. But then again, these are World Cup winners.

Togo

Since making it to their first ever World Cup in 2006 Togolese football has not really progressed in the way many in the West African country would have liked. Arguments over payments, loss of form and a tragic aircrash in 2007 that killed 14 Togolese football fans on their way back from an African Cup of Nations qualifier, including Togo’s Minister of Sport, have all dampened the Togo national team’s spirit and adversely affected performances and results.

Togo did not even qualify for the 2008 Cup of Nations in Ghana, but the Sparrow Hawks return to the international scene in Angola hoping to ruffle feathers on their 7th ACoNs appearance. In all honesty though it doesn’t look too likely that Togo have enough to advance through what is a difficult group.

While coach Hubert Velud can call on Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City) to provide goals, Togo still struggle in attacking areas. They managed just 3 goals in 6 games during qualifying – the joint second lowest total of any nation that made it to Angola, and didn’t score a single goal away from home. Take Adebayor out of the team and the pickings are pretty slim. In terms of creativity they lack poise and the midfield is all too often porous. Moustapha Salifou (Aston Villa) shoulders a lot of responsibility in that department, along with Adebayor upfront. Togo have never made it past the first round of the African Cup of Nations. I don’t expect that to change in Angola.

Prediction: Burkina Faso provide a real threat to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire’s progression to the knockout rounds, but ultimately I think the latter pair will qualify.

African Cup of Nations 2010, African Football, Burkina Faso, Cote d\'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo