African Nations smiling upon Gabon
GABON will go into the African Nations Cup finals not only with home advantage but also a favourable draw that gives the hosts every chance of getting out of the group stages and into the knockout phase.
It has been fortuitous that “Les Pantheres” have Burkina Faso and Cameroon to contend with and will open the tournament on Saturday at Stade l’Amitie with a game against the much under-prepared minnows Guinea Bissau‚ who are making their Nations Cup debut.
Ordinarily, four-time winners Cameroon should be the hot favourites in the group, but the Indomitable Lions have been severely watered down by a series of high-profile defections.
Coach Hugo Broos has tinkered considerably with his team since his first game in charge against South Africa in Limbe in March last year‚ weeding out the lethargic and introducing younger talent.
It was enough to see Cameroon win their qualifying group, but two draws in the World Cup preliminaries in October and November have left him under pressure.
Broos had hoped to have the likes of Joel Matip and Eric Maxim Choupo Moting at the Nations Cup tournament‚ but the two Germanplayers wanted to stay with their clubs.
So did another six other Cameroon players‚ including first-choice fullback Allan Nyom of Watford.
Burkina Faso are a side with formidable talent and plenty of experience.
But they lack in consistency as Bafana Bafana found out in Ouagadougou in October when they came so close to beating them in their first game in the group phase of the World Cup qualifiers.
“Les Etalon” finished surprise runners-up at the finals in South Africa four years ago and key elements of that team remains – hard-tackling captain Charles Kabore‚ player of the 2013 tournament Jonathan Pitroipa and the Traore brothers.
The West African country is ranked among the world’s poorest by the United Nations and money is always an issue for the team.
So while other competing teams have headed off to glamorous destinations, such as Abu Dhabi and Spain, for their pre-tournament preparations‚ Guinea Bissau have been stuck at home and will not play a proper friendly warm-up before they line-up in the opening game in Libreville on Saturday.
That leaves Gabon to take the mantle and run away with Group A.
The formidable Pierre Emerick Aubameyang leads their strike force and Mario Lemina of Juventus is quality midfielder and although Gabon lack proper depth‚ they could surge through on a tide of vociferous public support.