Great chance for Ivorians to prepare for World Cup
Jan 05, 2010
Luanda<br>The 2010 African football feast begins Sunday in Angola with the Nations Cup serving as a tempting<br>starter ahead of the multi-flavoured World Cup main course.
Luanda
The 2010 African football feast begins Sunday in Angola with the Nations Cup serving as a tempting
starter ahead of the multi-flavoured World Cup main course.
Only hosts South Africa of the six World Cup qualifiers from Africa
will be missing and Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and
Nigeria are expected to make the Nations Cup knockout phase.
Add defending champions Egypt and hosts Angola and the list of likely African champions is complete for the first Nations Cup to be staged in a Portuguese-speaking country since its inception
53 years ago.
Didier Drogba-inspired Ivory Coast are the darlings of the media and for the second consecutive tournament carry the favourites tag into a 22-day extravaganza scheduled for capital Luanda plus Benguela, Cabinda and Lubango.
After trampling all before them two years ago in Ghana the Ivorians came horribly unstuck in the semi-finals against title holders Egyptians, who won 4-1 with Amr Zaki scoring twice.
Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic has been busy lately dampening Ivory Coast expectations, warning that while his star-sprinkled squad
makes for impressive reading, the total impact is often less than the sum of the parts.
Drogba, who has hinted that Angola will be his Nations Cup swansong, says the arrogance and complacency of the 2008 squad must be eradicated if the Ivorians are to win the tournament a second time.
“We will treat every opponent with respect, humility and seriousness.
There is no room for complacency like in Ghana. No game is won in advance,†warned the 31-year-old Chelsea goal machine.
Ivory Coast are in an all-west Africa Group B with Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo and it would be a shock if the two World Cup qualifiers failed to stamp their authority.
Without a Nations Cup title since 1982, Ghana have been ravaged by injuries with central defenders John Pantsil and John Mensah and midfielders Stephen Appiah and Laryea Kingston ruled out.
And Serb coach Milovan Rajevac axed midfielder Sulley Muntari for ill discipline so the always demanding workload for box-to-box Chelsea workaholic Michael Essien just got a few kilograms heavier.
Togo boast Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and the pick of the Burkina Faso line-up is Moumouni Dagano, a Qatar-based striker and leading scorer in the qualifying competition with 12 goals.
Champions a record six times, Egypt are another side staggering from pretournament blows with playmaker Mohamed Aboutraika, fellow midfielders Mohamed Barakat and Mohamed Shawky, and Zaki ruled out by injury.
No country has won the Nations Cup three consecutive times and while the Pharaohs seem set to finish among the top two in Group C completed by Nigeria, Benin and
Mozambique, it is difficult to imagine them going all the way again.
* Germany-based striker Chinedu Obasi has been called up to replace Michael Eneramo in Nigeria’s African Nations Cup squad, team officials said. Obasi, 23, had been left out of the original 23-man squad named by Nigerian coach Shaibu Amodu at the weekend after Obafemi Martins passed a late fitness test.
Amodu had a change of mind after the deadline for the submission of his squad and requested permission to include the Hoffenheim player in place of Eneramo.
Nations Cup regulations normally allow teams to make changes to their squads up to seven days before their opening game.
The 2010 African football feast begins Sunday in Angola with the Nations Cup serving as a tempting
starter ahead of the multi-flavoured World Cup main course.
Only hosts South Africa of the six World Cup qualifiers from Africa
will be missing and Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and
Nigeria are expected to make the Nations Cup knockout phase.
Add defending champions Egypt and hosts Angola and the list of likely African champions is complete for the first Nations Cup to be staged in a Portuguese-speaking country since its inception
53 years ago.
Didier Drogba-inspired Ivory Coast are the darlings of the media and for the second consecutive tournament carry the favourites tag into a 22-day extravaganza scheduled for capital Luanda plus Benguela, Cabinda and Lubango.
After trampling all before them two years ago in Ghana the Ivorians came horribly unstuck in the semi-finals against title holders Egyptians, who won 4-1 with Amr Zaki scoring twice.
Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic has been busy lately dampening Ivory Coast expectations, warning that while his star-sprinkled squad
makes for impressive reading, the total impact is often less than the sum of the parts.
Drogba, who has hinted that Angola will be his Nations Cup swansong, says the arrogance and complacency of the 2008 squad must be eradicated if the Ivorians are to win the tournament a second time.
“We will treat every opponent with respect, humility and seriousness.
There is no room for complacency like in Ghana. No game is won in advance,†warned the 31-year-old Chelsea goal machine.
Ivory Coast are in an all-west Africa Group B with Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo and it would be a shock if the two World Cup qualifiers failed to stamp their authority.
Without a Nations Cup title since 1982, Ghana have been ravaged by injuries with central defenders John Pantsil and John Mensah and midfielders Stephen Appiah and Laryea Kingston ruled out.
And Serb coach Milovan Rajevac axed midfielder Sulley Muntari for ill discipline so the always demanding workload for box-to-box Chelsea workaholic Michael Essien just got a few kilograms heavier.
Togo boast Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and the pick of the Burkina Faso line-up is Moumouni Dagano, a Qatar-based striker and leading scorer in the qualifying competition with 12 goals.
Champions a record six times, Egypt are another side staggering from pretournament blows with playmaker Mohamed Aboutraika, fellow midfielders Mohamed Barakat and Mohamed Shawky, and Zaki ruled out by injury.
No country has won the Nations Cup three consecutive times and while the Pharaohs seem set to finish among the top two in Group C completed by Nigeria, Benin and
Mozambique, it is difficult to imagine them going all the way again.
* Germany-based striker Chinedu Obasi has been called up to replace Michael Eneramo in Nigeria’s African Nations Cup squad, team officials said. Obasi, 23, had been left out of the original 23-man squad named by Nigerian coach Shaibu Amodu at the weekend after Obafemi Martins passed a late fitness test.
Amodu had a change of mind after the deadline for the submission of his squad and requested permission to include the Hoffenheim player in place of Eneramo.
Nations Cup regulations normally allow teams to make changes to their squads up to seven days before their opening game.