Albery Adomah has started all the four matches for Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations

If Bristol City winger Albert Adomah returns from the African Cup of Nations  with a winner’s medal, it will enhance his value in the transfer market, says coach of the English Championship side.

Coach Sean O’Driscoll believes Adomah could be worth as much as £4 million when the transfer window re-opens in the summer.

An integral part of the Ghana team that has taken the tournament by storm, Adomah is just two games away from glory in South Africa.

The Black Stars meet West African neighbours Burkina Faso in the second semi-final at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Wednesday – and Ghana are hot favourites to go all the way to Sunday’s final, where Mali or Nigeria will lie in wait.

Adomah has started all four of Ghana’s games so far, including last Saturday’s quarter-final win over Cape Verde, and his stock is rising with every appearance he makes.

And that is sure to alert Premier League clubs, who can sign players again in June.

City have already rejected two bids from Championship rivals Crystal Palace for the 25-year-old winger, who has 18 months left to run on his Ashton Gate contract.

Adomah has spoken openly of his ambition to play in the top-flight and he seems certain to leave in the summer.

But O’Driscoll reckons City can cash in on their most valuable playing asset if he returns home next week as an African Cup of Nations winner.

He told The Post: “If Albert is worth a couple of million pounds now, think what he could be worth if Ghana win the cup.

“If Ghana continue to be successful and we can improve him further after he comes back, he could be worth three or four million pounds.”

Wakaso don score three goals for Nations Cup

De Black Stars of Ghana don become de fess team wey go waka reach de semi final of de ogbonge 2013 African Nations cup wey dey go on for South Africa.

Na Cape Verde na im Ghana take reach de semis as dem waya dem 2-0 on Saturday for de stadium wey dey Port Elizabeth.

Mubarak Wakeso na im be de chairman for Ghana as na de two goals wey de guyman score carry de Black Stars reach de lass 4.

Cape Verde wey na dia fess Afcon show be dis try well well as dem don promise dia pipu and fans to waka pass de kwatafinal, but water kon pass gari on Saturday as Ghana no gree for dem.

Walahi, Cape Verde carri plenti swagga take start de game and na dem even get de best chance to score for de 17th minute, but Heldon Ramos troway am.

Na with pride na im Cape Verde go carri dia load kommot jeje for South Africa as na everybodi know say dem try for de 2013 Afcon.

Lucio Antunes as made a case for local coaches

As Cape Verde’s home-born coach Lucio Antunes takes his team to an unprecedented quarter-final, he shows that foreign managers might not be the answer for African sides.

As Heldon tucked the ball past the Angolan goalkeeper in Port Elizabeth on Sunday night to seal the Islanders’ victory, a minor sporting miracle was born.

Debutants Cape Verde – the smallest nation ever to take part in part in the Africa Cup of Nations – had qualified ahead of continental big-guns Morocco.

In the wild celebrations that followed, the focus was on one man in particular – Antunes, the Blue Sharks’ head coach.

It’s been well-documented that the home-born Antunes does not manage full-time – on his off days, he is an air traffic controller at Praia Airport.

Taking into account his remarkable story, the success of Antunes raises questions for African football, and more specifically African coaching.
A depressing fact about this year’s Afcon is that out of the 16 nations taking part, only seven coaches are home-born – the other nine are expatriates, the vast majority European.
Taken at face value, this might be considered normal – the African coaching system lags well behind its European counterpart, only taking first steps toward professionalization in 2008.
But if we look closer, we can see all is not well in the state of African football – most of the continent appears to be some sort of thrall to the European coach.
A European can often get a job at an African nation on the flimsiest of CVs – Togo coach Didier Six has not managed since the 1980s, yet still found a job with the Sparrow Hawks.

Similarly, the Ivory Coast gave the coaching reins of Africa’s strongest side to an untested manager in the Tunisia-born but France-based Sabri Lamouchi.

Conversely, local coaches often find themselves ostracised – Ghana’s Kwesi Appiah, previously an assistant under Frenchman Claude LeRoy, stands alone among the tournament’s front-running sides.

It is naïve to suggest the Blue Sharks’ performances could bring around wholesale changes in the African coaching system – its inadequacies and prejudices are too deep to be banished overnight.

But hopefully, Antunes’ story might help African football shed its inferiority complex – if a native coach can succeed where nomadic Europeans have failed, why can’t this happen again?

By Ed Owen

Niger skipper Moussa Maazou is pictured during their Africa Cup of Nations match

Niger skipper Moussa Maazou has vowed to give their all when they clash with Ghana in the decisive Group B match at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on Monday.

Second favourites behind Ivory Coast to win the tournament, the Black Stars of Ghana top with four points after an opening-day stumble against DR Congo.

Ghana let slip a two-goal lead against the Congolese which allowed the two time champions to hold the Black Stars to a 2-2 draw.

They subsequently dominated Mali in their second group game which they won 1-0 but the Black Stars must win their final game against Niger.

Niger also showed their character by holding DR Congo to a 1-1 draw which gives them the hope that they can also reach the quarter finals by beating the Black Stars.

While admitting that the match against Ghana won’t be easy, Maazou insists they will be no pushovers in ther game against the Black Stars.

“It won’t be an easy match for us, but we will try our best,” vowed Maazou, whose team have watched videos of the two games involving Ghana.

Midfielder Issiakou Koudize is the only concern for Niger as he has a knee injury.

But he could still feature in the game as their German coach Gernot Rohr says the 22-year-old defensive midfielder will face a late fitness test.