Feature: Africa Cup of Nations draw serves up Group of Death

Published on: 04 December 2014
Feature: Africa Cup of Nations draw serves up Group of Death
Complete draw for 2015 AFCON

By Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent

Even by the standards of the Africa Cup of Nations’ long history, the last few weeks have been a particularly turbulent period. Yet Wednesday’s draw conjured up a magnificent group of four big-hitters which immediately replaced concern and conjecture with excitement and anticipation.

The long, drawn-out ceremony in Malabo was well worth waiting for, with Ghana, Algeria, South Africa and Senegal pooled together in Group C. While other groups have their clear favourites and outsiders in fairly equal measure, this one promises to be as unpredictable as they come.

Despite being four-time champions, Ghana have much to prove. Not only have they failed to win the competition in 33 years, they also struggled to have any real say in a competitive Group G at the World Cup in Brazil even after claiming a 2-2 draw against eventual winners Germany.

Avram Grant has a very competent squad available to him, but also has less experience to hand than many Ghana coaches of years past. As a consequence, much will be expected of the Ayew brothers as well as Udinese’s Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu in terms of leadership.

Christian Gourcuff’s Algeria will be looking to use their fantastic efforts in Brazil as a springboard to continental success, with Sporting Lisbon’s Islam Slimani primed to have a huge effect following his exciting displays as the lead front man in Vahid Halilhodzic’s World Cup squad.

The Fennecs have a fair number of other players with big-game experience from playing in major leagues across Europe, and for many they are the favourites to win the entire competition. But their draw in Group C means them having to hit the group running, something they managed to achieve in qualifying with five wins from their first five fixtures.

Their opening game of the finals comes against South Africa, who are looking to rebuild under Shakes Mashaba after their quarter-final loss as hosts in 2013 and subsequent failure to reach the World Cup finals. And having already seen off holders Nigeria during qualifying, supporters of Bafana Bafana have good reason to be hopeful of a successful tournament.

While many outside of Africa may know little about the current crop of players, Mashaba has put together a group with a tremendous ethic which had originally led many in the nation to tip their side for a knockout spot at least. And while being drawn in the most imposing group compromises that confidence to some extent, South Africans will not be too overawed by the challenge ahead.

Senegal are the probable outsiders of the group, being the lowest-seeded of the quartet, the one side not to have won their qualifying group and the only team yet to win the competition outright. But, all that said, they were also the one nation in Pot 4 that the rest of the field would have wanted to avoid.

With a huge collection of talent earning their corn in some of Europe’s top leagues, coach Alain Giresse can boast one of the more star-studded outfits in the entire draw. The likes of Mohamed Diame, Sadio Mane, Boukary Drame, Papiss Cisse, Mame Biram Diouf and Moussa Sow make the Lions of Teranga a very dangerous outfit.

As groups go, this one mirrors the World Cup pool which saw former champions Italy, England and Uruguay toppled by Costa Rica. And as we saw in that case, absolutely anything could happen.

When all the talking is over and the games finally – and thankfully – begin, we could well face the prospect of one of the Afcon’s greatest ever groups.

Source: Goal.com 

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