African Cup of Nations 2012: Qualifying Group Draw

With the 2010 African Cup of Nations complete the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has wasted no time in drawing the qualifying groups for CAN 2012, to be joint hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The draw took place today in Lubumbashi and here is what it threw up:

Group 1: Mali, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Liberia
Group 2: Nigeria, Guinea, Ethiopia, Madagascar
Group 3: Zambia, Mozambique, Libya, Comoros
Group 4: Algeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Central African Republic
Group 5: Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo, Mauritius
Group 6: Burkina Faso, Gambia, Namibia, Mauritania
Group 7: Egypt (holders), South Africa, Sierra Leone, Niger
Group 8: Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Rwanda, Burundi
Group 9: Ghana, Congo, Sudan, Swaziland
Group 10: Angola, Uganda, Kenya, Guinea-Bissau
Group 11: Tunisia, Malawi, Chad, Botswana

With Gabon and Equatorial Guinea already qualified as hosts, 14 places remain – 11 group winners and 3 best placed runners-up.

The most obvious absentees on that list? Togo. After CAF banned them from the next 2 African Cup of Nations for withdrawing from the tournament in Angola after the bus attack that left 3 people dead, Togo’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against that ban is still pending. Subsequently they weren’t involved in today’s draw.

One team I’ll be following closely is Rwanda, after it was recently announced that Ghana Under-20 World Cup winning coach Sellas Tetteh is to coach the Wasps. Rwanda have only ever made it to one African Cup of Nations – in 2004 – but Tetteh impressed me greatly as a coach at the Under-20 World Cup last year . The Ghanaian appears to have the necessary leadership qualities and tactical nous to go far as a coach, and taking charge of a relatively underdeveloped footballing nation like Rwanda should prove a huge challenge to him. I’m interested to see how he gets on in a group with Cote d’Ivoire.

Group 5, with Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo and Mauritius looks the toughest on paper. I’m also intrigued to see how Malawi fare in Group 11 up against Tunisia, who will no doubt be favourites, Chad and Botswana. Kinnah Phiri’s team stunned Africa when they thrashed Algeria 3-0 at CAN 2010 before falling away, but Phiri has extended his contract with the Flames and will be hoping to guide them to their 3rd Cup of Nations appearance.

African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football, Malawi