Will a WC-bound team win CAN?

APART from South Africa, all the other five teams that will represent Africa at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are playing in the Nations Cup in Angola, yet none of them looks as if it will win the tournament, which was reduced to 15 teams after the withdrawal of Togo. Ivory Coast, Algeria, Nigeria and Cameroon all made the worst possible start to the competition and if anyone of them loses their next group game, that’d be as good as the end of their campaign in Angola. After settling for a goalless draw against Burkina Faso in their opening fixture, Didier Drogba-led Elephants should expect no mercy when they take on Ghana this evening in Cabinda. The Black Stars somehow ‘escaped’ Togo’s anger after the latter decided to return home instead of staying in the competition following last Friday’s rebel attack on their convoy, which left three dead and one severely injured. World Cup bound Ghana are one of the tournament favourites so are the Ivorians and tonight’s game will be a test of who is good enough to accomplish that billing. A win for the Black Stars will all but end the Elephants’ campaign as the former still have to play Burkina Faso in their second group game. A draw won’t be a very bad result for either team. Nigeria and Cameroon all lost their opening game and will need to do better in their next fixtures of they are to avoid the embarrassment of going out at the first hurdle. Algeria were dominated against Malawi but they had the chance to make amends last evening against Fredrick Kanoute-led Mali, who stunned the footballing world when they came from 4-0 down with 11 minutes left to draw 4-4 with host nation Angola. With all the five World Cup bound teams failing to impress in the early stages, it’s left to the reigning champions, Egypt (who dismantled the Super Eagles) to make the competition their own after all it’s the only competition they need to win to compensate for the disappointment of failing to qualify for the first ever World Cup on the African soil. nku78@yahoo.com

Sports

Will a WC-bound team win CAN?