The Afcon 2013 is upon us and it promises to be a very interesting tournament in more ways than one. I expect sparks to fly!
Firstly, the qualification process was unique (within 12 months since the last one was played). Secondly, the winner of the tournament will represent the rest Africa at the Fifa Confederations Cup 2013. It is also the last Afcon before the Fifa World Cup with (unusually) 18 months the before the tournament in Brazil and there’s a plethora of other factors that I anticipate will set this tournament on fire.
The groups are tight and well balanced. As is often the case, Group D is the group of death. It is unique as it only has teams from West and North of the continent (Algeria, Ivory Coast, Togo and Tunisia). The two teams that will advance to the quarterfinals from that group will pose the biggest threat. Ivory Coast is expected to finish on top, after all.
The most open looks to be group A – our group. Looking at how these teams reached the Finals, including our participation by default as we are hosting, makes it even more interesting. It will be a surprise, at least for me, if any team in this group can get maximum points (9).
But be that as it may, one cannot help but expect Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana to reach the last 4 with the rest left to fight for the remaining fourth spot.
Teams that are serious in this tournament would have selected players that should not only help them do well in this tournament, but who will also help them during the World Cup qualifiers later this year, during the last stages of the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifiers. Given that the last stage of the same qualifiers is similar to the last one for this Afcon, it really means that teams should be able to play well both at home and away to have come here. In particular, to qualify you had to win by scoring goals at home and away. Angola is a good example as they scored one away (against Zimbabwe losing 1-3 and scored twice at home, winning 2-0). On the other hand, while Morocco lost 2-0 to Mozambique away, they came back to win 4-0 at home. Scoring goals is what brought teams here, save for the defending champions who had to go through by virtue of kicks from the penalty mark just as they did when they won the cup last year.
We have teams in this competition that can score goals. As a South African, one would have to accept that we are not one of those, at least not yet.
Ghana scored 7 goals (3 against Egypt and 4 against Tunisia) in their last two warm-up matches. Even more impressive is that they were coming from a 2-0 deficit in their second game that they won 4-2. Ivory Coast beat Egypt 4-2 in their last warm up match. All these results tell a very convincing story.
It is always difficult to predict scores and/or results as many dynamics come into play during a match, and even worse in a tournament like this. These dynamics can influence even a game where the obvious is expected. But be that as it may, one cannot help but expect Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana to reach the last 4 with the rest left to fight for the remaining fourth spot.
Each citizen will support their team with some (whose countries did not qualify) having a choice as to who align themselves with.
Equally as South Africans, we will be supporting our team, not names or faces. Each country has one National team, and not clubs, and we are no different. We win as SA and we lose as SA.
It would be a big surprise to have a new name engraved on the cup, come 10 February 2013. This one is not for the underdogs. The time made available for teams to prepare did not give any chance to such teams. So, while football is full of unexpected outcomes, this time it is highly unlikely that we will experience that.
The number of teams per Region (Central-1, East-1, North-3 South-3 and West-8) tilts the scales in favour of the west.
The Western dominance is indeed on the cards. Whoever wins should make a strong case at the Fifa Confederations Cup in Brazil, in June, on behalf of all of us – THE AFRICANS.
Zipho Dlangalala was a professional player for Amazulu FC (1987-1988) and Zulu Royals (1990). He’s also a former Safa Coaching Instructor, with a strong academic background having studied coaching in Brazil and Netherlands among other countries.
– By Opinion: Zipho Dlangalala
