Rise of the underdogs!

African Cup of Nations 2012, which is being co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, is turning out to be one for the underdogs. Well this year’s tournament is certainly producing. The shock results of the first week will have kept neutrals fascinated.With numerous African superpowers failing to even qualify for the finals, the competition had already been billed to be the most open Cup of Nations in recent years. And so far, nothing has happened to suggest otherwise. Cameroon, Nigeria and record winners Egypt couldn’t make it to the finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. In addition, 2010 Fifa World Cup hosts South Africa failed to show any progress for their showpiece event, as well as 2010 World Cup finals Algeria also didn’t qualify. The sight of nations like Niger, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Zambia and Sudan would’ve left many neutrals disappointed as the lack of the superpowers could’ve seriously impacted on the quality of play in the tournament but this picture hasn’t played out. While the tournament has not even reached the knockout stage, the quality of play hasn’t been affected by the loss of big name sides, on the centrally, more big names like Senegal and Morocco have already been eliminate. The ‘smaller nations’ have already more than made their presence felt at the biggest showpiece on the African continent as they keep producing shocks, which is keeping everyone entertained. Pre-tournament favorites Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have both been made to work hard for their victories and their ‘Goals For’ columns do not give a picture of teams that want to win this tournament. What is interesting so far is that the likes of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Botswana and even Niger haven’t just sat back and allowed their opponents dominate the game. And as a result, nearly every game so far played has been end to end, with most of the games being decided by a late goal. Tunisia, winners of this tournament in 2004 after progressing from the group that included debutants Rwanda, struggled to overcome 2012 debutantes Niger on Friday evening. It took an 89th minute winner (from Ismaa Jemma) to settle a game that Niger arguably could have won themselves. The performances of the so called weaker teams has shown the huge improvement in African football. Impressive performances by Zambia, co-hosts Eq. Guinea and Gabon have shown the great strides the ‘smaller’ nations have made in player development. European clubs will no doubt be keeping their eye in on the tournament. Whereas Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana remain firm favourites to win the competition, it is becoming more likely that, with the rise of the underdogs, a rank outsider may well be lifting the trophy on February 12. Eq. Guinea eliminated another of the tournament favourites, Senegal showing that any result this year is possible, after all most teams real fancy their shot in the absence of Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria, teams that always fight for a place in the last four. Cote d’Ivoire are already through to the quarterfinals after battling two wins over Sudan and Burkina Faso, and the onus is on Ghana to beat Mali on Saturday. The Black Stars, four-time champions of Africa will need to do a lot more than they out in against first-timers Botswana in their opening game. It was a nervy 1-0 win and they wouldn’t want a repeat of the same albeit against better opposition, moreover without the suspended captain John Mensah. nku78@yahoo.com