The Sunday Mail
Senegal
Senegal President Macky Sall has promised his country’s football players bonuses of about $55 000 (about R643 000) each if they win their first Africa Cup of Nations title.
Sall also promised the squad other undisclosed bonuses for winning games at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea, which starts next week.
Senegal is one of only three African nations to make the World Cup quarter-finals but has never won the continental championship, losing in a penalty shoot-out to Cameroon in the 2002 final in its best result.
Bonuses promised to players will come under scrutiny at the African Cup after three teams — Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria — had their World Cup campaigns in Brazil last year marred by embarrassing disputes between players and officials over payments.
“We will do our best to get good results,” Senegal goalkeeper and captain Bouna Coundoul said after receiving a Senegalese flag from Sall at a ceremony in Dakar.
After failing to qualify in 2013, Senegal faces a tough task at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations after being grouped with Algeria, Ghana and South Africa — all former champions. That group is considered by far the most difficult in the 16-team tournament.
Senegal will also be without midfielder Sadio Mane, who was short-listed for the African footballer of the year award, because of a leg injury. Mane’s English club, Southampton, says he can’t play at the African Cup, although Giresse said he wanted the player examined by Senegal’s team doctors.
Senegal’s first African Cup game is against Ghana on January 19.
Zambia
President of Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) Kalusha Bwalya says the need to project into the future has motivated the country to name 10 players who will be making the first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in the 23-man list announced by coach Honour Janza last Wednesday.
Zambia, who won the AFCON trophy in 2012, discarded experienced veteran strikers James Chamanga, Jacob Mulenga and influential captain Christopher Katongo after Janza opted for youth spiced with experience as the Chipolopolo attempts to improve on the dismal defence of the title at the 2013 edition in South Africa.
Bwalya told National Mirror in an exclusive interview in Lagos that the country’s young players had demonstrated the zeal to excel at the top level and deserved places in the Nations Cup train to Equatorial Guinea.
“We have adopted a fast game which some of the dropped players can no longer tune in to,” the 1988 Africa Player of the Year said.
“Besides, some of the dropped players have played in the AFCON since 2006 and have among them some two to three appearances. Even still, they have dropped in performance and at this time we are looking far into the future.
“I am confident that the players who made the latest list will acquit themselves very well. But let me say that the essence at the moment is not to take a shot at the trophy but just to give majority of them the needed exposure as we build this team.
“However, in view of the turn that African football has taken in recent years, we would not let go any opportunity that comes to us in Equatorial Guinea. I think we have got the quality to compete with any opposition.”
The influx of the youth who are mainly plying their trade in the domestic league to the AFCON 2015 list resulted from the Zambia Under-20 team’s victory at the 2014 COSAFA Youth Championship held in Zimbabwe.
Cape Verde
The Cape Verde Islands arrived as an oddity at the last African Nations Cup finals but two years on will have credible hopes of again reaching the quarter-finals of the continental championship.
They compete against the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tunisia and Zambia in Group B of the tournament, which kicks off in Equatorial Guinea on January 17.
With a population of just over 500 000, the island archipelago were something of a fairytale story when they earned their Nations Cup finals appearance in South Africa in 2013.
But not content with just participating, they finished above Angola and Morocco to earn a last eight place, their coach famously bursting into celebratory song at a post-match Press conference, before defeat by Ghana.
Since then, they controversially just missed out on a berth in the World Cup qualifying playoffs and then romped through the latest Nations Cup preliminaries, securing their place in the finals again with two group matches to play.
They are now a legitimate force in the African game, who will command a healthy respect from their opponents in Equatorial Guinea.
Tunisia are the top ranked team in Group B and perennial qualifiers for the finals, as are Zambia. Both have been to 16 previous finals tournaments.
Tunisia were unbeaten in their qualifying campaign, topping a tough group ahead of Senegal and eliminating Egypt, who have won a record number of Nations Cup titles.
Tunisia are a highly disciplined, sometimes cynical, side who showed few frills but a steely determination in their recent games.
Zambia won their last three qualifiers to secure a sixth successive finals appearance but the strength of their current squad is a far cry from the team that won the 2012 edition, which was co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Zambia have retained just eight players from that winning squad.
The Democratic Republic of Congo scraped into the finals as the best third-placed finisher in the group qualifiers and although they have persuaded striker Dieumerci Mbokani back to play after a two-year hiatus remain a country of enormous potential but little delivery.
Cote d’Ivoire
Ivory Coast were firm favourites for each of the last four African Nations Cups, but fell short every time and are likely to enjoy going in somewhat under the radar on this occasion.
The focus instead on Group D at the finals in Equatorial Guinea will be on the sudden revival of Cameroon plus the unpredictable threat posed by West African nations Guinea and Mali.
It has been a torrid last few months for the Ivorians who squeezed into the tournament after an unimpressive qualifying campaign that included a 4-1 defeat in Cameroon and a surprise 4-3 home defeat by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A dramatic last-minute failure at the 2014 World Cup, the retirement of Didier Drogba and a crisis in defence has led to a downscaling of their prospects and that could work in their favour after years of being accused of choking under a heavy burden of expectation.
Yaya Toure is their key player and Gervinho their creative spirit and it may be that Drogba’s successors up front, Wilfried Bony and Seydou Doumbia, could achieve what he failed to do in recent editions and score the goals that take the Ivorians to the title.
Cameroon showed a stark improvement in form after their 2014 World Cup disappointment and were unbeaten in the qualifiers as coach Volker Finke purged his squad and introduced several exciting youngsters, including teenage goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoua from the youth ranks at Barcelona.
The disruptive influence of Samuel Eto’o and Alex Song is no longer there and the revival in the Indomitable Lions’ form from their shoddy showing in Brazil has been one of African football’s major stories over the last six months.
Mali won the bronze medal at the last two Nations Cups despite being given little chance of making the knock-out phase.
They remain an unpredictable force but will go into this tournament with healthy respect from their opponents.
The same is true for Guinea who overcame the ravages of the Ebola virus on their country to qualify.
They were not allowed to host any matches and had to switch home games to a neutral venue. Despite the disruption and odds staked against them, they qualified. — Supersport.
