[ 2011-10-29 ]

Africa Cup of Nations draw eagerly waited
The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations draw is eagerly
awaited by football fans across the continent. The
draw for the tournament to be hosted by Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea will take place in Malabo, the
capital of Equatorial Guinea on Saturday 29th
October at 7.00pm

All roads lead to Malabo for the ceremony where
the two Heads of State of the co hosting nations
presidents Ali Bongo Ondimba and his counterpart
Teodoro Obiang Nguema will be among the
dignitaries gracing the draw.

Defending Champions Egypt will be absent from the
draw as the 16 qualified nations wait to find out
who they will play in the race to succeed Egypt
the 7 time African Champions at next year 's
event.

A new dawn has come for the Orange Africa Football
competition with only five former champions having
made the finals this time round. That is a number
less than the previous edition in Angola in 2010.
Ghana has the most number of titles, 4 in total
but they last won the title in 1982 in Tripoli
when they defeated Libya 7-6 on penalties. That
was the competition that marked the start of the
career of Ghanaian legend Abedi Pele whose son
Andre Ayew currently plays for Olympique Marseille
and should be present at next year's finals with
The Blacks Stars of Ghana.

Ten years later in 1992 in Senegal, Ivory Coast
won its only title at the detriment of rivals
Ghana following a memorable post match penalty
shoot-out (11-10). Ivorian goalkeeper Alain
Gouamene was the hero of the day and Abedi Pele
the big absentee on the day after he was suspended
from the final after receiving a second yellow
card during the semi final win over Nigeria. In
2004 Tunisia beat Morocco 2-1 in the final.

Several former finalists Ghana (4 times), Tunisia
(twice), Zambia (twice), Mali (once), Morocco
(Once) and Senegal (Once) will be present for the
bi annual African soccer show piece. Added to this
is Guinea, runners up in 1976. Three countries
will be playing their first ever Africa Cup of
Nations finals namely co hosts Equatorial Guinea,
Niger ( who emerged from a group that had Egypt
and South Africa) and Botswana the surprise
package from group K, the only group that had five
teams.

So who gets who and will there be a group of death
, are the co-hosts going to get a draw that can
take them beyond the first round? Plenty of
questions for now and few answers. What is known
at present however is that the 16 teams will be
drafted according to their results in the last
three ACN finals in 2006, 2008 and 2010) and will
be placed as follows :

- Pot 1 : Ghana, Ivory Coast + Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea

- Pot 2 : Angola, Tunisia, Zambia, Guinea
- Pot 3 : Mali, Senegal, Morocco, Burkina Faso
- Pot 4 : Sudan, Libya, Botswana, Niger
There will be in each group, one of the teams from
each pot , so a possible group could have a
combination like Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Senegal and
Niger or Ghana, Zambia, Morocco and Botswana.
There is also the possibility of having three
North African sides Libya, Morocco and Tunisia in
the same group.

Whatever the outcome the qualifiers revealed a new
trend in African football built on hard work that
has shaken the established order. Ivory Coast
showed that they are a team to watch by winning
all their qualifying matches and Senegal too have
been strong. Ghana quarter finalist at last year's
World Cup and losing finalist at in Angola 2010
will be hoping to go one better this time around.
It all begins in earnest on Saturday in Malabo
with the draw

Source - Cafonline

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