Saturday 17 January 2015

Yet another African Cup of Nations

THE fourth African Cup of Nations in just six seasons begins later today with replacement hosts Equatorial Guinea taking on Congo in Bata.

Yet, already - as that introductory paragraph suggests - this 30th edition of the tournament has endured a torrid build-up.

Original hosts Morocco first asked for a postponement until 2016, citing fears over the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. But, once the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stood firm, the North Africans pulled out altogether.

This was despite the fact that the Moroccan city of Casablanca had hosted Guinea's successful qualification campaign because the threat of Ebola meant the Guineans could not play at home.

Morocco's contradictory position therefore looks decidedly odd. It is nothing, though, compared to the subsequent illogical move by CAF to bestow hosting rights on Equatorial Guinea.

After all, the tiny central African country had been disqualified last July for fielding an ineligible player in a qualifying match. Now, bizarrely, they have qualified for the finals automatically as hosts.

Usefully at least, it is not a new role for Equatorial Guinea to take on. They were, in fact, hosts as recently as 2012 - but, back then, they shared the burden of the duties with neighbouring Gabon and only used their two biggest cities, Bata and Malabo.

This time, Mongomo and Ebebiyin - two outposts even by Equatoguinean standards - will also be responsible for overseeing the progress of part of the group phase as well as hosting a quarter final each.

Unsurprisingly, the short notice given to the two venues has resulted in concerns over infrastructure and security.

Additional fears that even the 5,000-capacity stadium in Ebebiyin will not be filled has led to the country's president Teodoro Obiang Nguema to pay for 40,000 tickets for fans to attend for free.

Of course, by "president", think instead of an oil-rich dictator who has been in power since 1979 and whose human rights abuses have been well-documented by advocacy agencies.

Suddenly, as cynical as it sounds, the CAF decision begins to make some sort of sense.

Seemingly driven by greed at the best of times - why else stage the Cup of Nations so often? - these were actually the worst of times for the organisation.

Their centrepiece tournament - older than the European Championships by three years - was hanging by a thread. It is no wonder that it went to the highest bidder.

And so, regardless of what happens over the next month in Equatorial Guinea, there will be a real sense of unease as to how this championship has still gone ahead.

Maybe, by asking for a postponement, Morocco had the right idea after all.

FULL AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS 2015 FIXTURES
GROUP A
DateVenue
Sat 17 Jan, 16:00EQUATORIAL GUINEA 1-1 CONGOBata
Sat 17 Jan, 19:00BURKINA FASO 0-2 GABONBata
Wed 21 Jan, 16:00EQUATORIAL GUINEA 0-0 BURKINA FASOBata
Wed 21 Jan, 19:00GABON 0-1 CONGOBata
Sun 25 Jan, 18:00GABON 0-2 EQUATORIAL GUINEABata
Sun 25 Jan, 18:00CONGO 2-1 BURKINA FASOEbebiyin

Group A TableWDLFAPts
(Q) CONGO210427
(Q) EQUATORIAL GUINEA120315
GABON102233
BURKINA FASO012141

GROUP B
DateVenue
Sun 18 Jan, 16:00ZAMBIA 1-1 CONGO DREbebiyin
Sun 18 Jan, 19:00TUNISIA 1-1 CAPE VERDEEbebiyin
Thu 22 Jan, 16:00ZAMBIA 1-2 TUNISIAEbebiyin
Thu 22 Jan, 19:00CAPE VERDE 0-0 CONGO DREbebiyin
Mon 26 Jan, 18:00CAPE VERDE 0-0 ZAMBIAEbebiyin
Mon 26 Jan, 18:00CONGO DR 1-1 TUNISIABata

Group B TableWDLFAPts
(Q) TUNISIA120435
(Q) CONGO DR030223
CAPE VERDE030113
ZAMBIA021232

GROUP C
DateVenue
Mon 19 Jan, 16:00GHANA 1-2 SENEGALMongomo
Mon 19 Jan, 19:00ALGERIA 3-1 SOUTH AFRICAMongomo
Fri 23 Jan, 16:00GHANA 1-0 ALGERIAMongomo
Fri 23 Jan, 19:00SOUTH AFRICA 1-1 SENEGALMongomo
Tue 27 Jan, 18:00SOUTH AFRICA 1-2 GHANAMongomo
Tue 27 Jan, 18:00SENEGAL 0-2 ALGERIAMalabo

Group C Table WDLFAPts
(Q) GHANA201436
(Q) ALGERIA201526
SENEGAL111344
SOUTH AFRICA012361
Note: Ghana qualify ahead of Algeria on head-to-head basis (Ghana 1-0 Algeria)

GROUP D
DateVenue
Tue 20 Jan, 16:00IVORY COAST 1-1 GUINEAMalabo
Tue 20 Jan, 19:00MALI 1-1 CAMEROONMalabo
Sat 24 Jan, 16:00IVORY COAST 1-1 MALIMalabo
Sat 24 Jan, 19:00CAMEROON 1-1 GUINEAMalabo
Wed 28 Jan, 18:00CAMEROON 0-1 IVORY COASTMalabo
Wed 28 Jan, 18:00GUINEA 1-1 MALIMongomo

Group D TableWDLFAPts
(Q) IVORY COAST120325
(Q) GUINEA030333
MALI030333
CAMEROON021232
Note: Guinea placed ahead of Mali after a drawing of lots

QUARTER FINALS
DateVenue
Sat 31 Jan, 16:00CONGO 2-4 DR CONGOBata
Sat 31 Jan, 19:30TUNISIA 1-2 aet EQUATORIAL GUINEABata
Sun 1 Feb, 16:00GHANA 3-0 GUINEAMalabo
Sun 1 Feb, 19:30IVORY COAST 3-1 ALGERIAMalabo

SEMI FINALS
DateVenue
Wed 4 Feb, 19:00DR CONGO v IVORY COASTBata
Thu 5 Feb, 19:00GHANA v EQUATORIAL GUINEAMalabo

THIRD-PLACED PLAYOFF
DateVenue
Sat 7 Feb, 16:00SF LOSER 1 v SF LOSER 2Malabo

FINAL
DateVenue
Sun 8 Feb, 19:00SF WINNER 1 v SF WINNER 2Bata

TELEVISION COVERAGE
Eurosport has live coverage of all of the matches. ITV4 will show seven matches - one each from the four groups, both semi finals and the Final. ITV4 also has nightly highlights.

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