Africa Cup of Nations 2013; Group-By-Group Preview

The Africa Cup of Nations get underway this weekend in South Africa. This is the tournament that sees 16 African countries battle for the singular honour of being Africa's footballing best. It's the 29th edition of the competition and Zambia are the defending champions after shocking the continent with their victory last year. Now, let me help those who do not understand why the AFCON is being held back-to-back, CAF is trying to avoid having the Nations Cup and the World cup being played in the same year as has been the case in the past, so the competition will now be played in odd years (2013, 2015, 2017 e.t.c.) just to avoid the clashes.
Africa has produced some of the most beautiful footballers the world have seen one of whom was good enough to win the World Footballer of the year (Geaorge Opong Weah). The AFCON has become one of the most watched tournament in world football with scouts from different parts of the world coming to watch.

What I'm about to do is a group-by-group preview of the first round of the competition. So here's a quick preview of group A.

GROUP A

South Africa
This will be SOuth Africa's 8th appearance at the AFCON and as hosts, they will be going into this tournament with the high hopes of adding another Nations Cup trophy to that solitary victory of 1996 when they defeated Tunisia in the final. South Africa became the first world cup hosts who failed to advance from the group stage and they also failed to qualify for the las Nations Cup. CAF saved their blushes when civil unrest forced the continental football rulling body to award the hosting rights to them. Without their talismanic playmaker, Stephen Pieenar who recently retired from international football, The Bafana Bafana have the huge task of rising to the high hopes of soccer loving South Africans accross the globe.
Except you are a keen follower of the South African league, most of the players in this squad will be unfamiliar but Bafana Bafana's hopes will be tied to the performances of players like Siphiwe Tshabalala, the team’s most capped player (78), Siboniso Gaxa, Masilela, Teko Modise and defender Bongani Khumalo (who spent one season bouncing around England).

Head coach Gordon Igesund has played both one and two-striker formations in pre-tournament friendlies, each featuring 28-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns striker Katlego Mphela as the main threat. His 23 international goals (in 49 games) are almost twice as many as the next most-prolific player on the roster (Parker, 12).

Expect athletic but direct play that will rely on opportunism more than creativity.

Cape Verde
The Blue Sharks as they are fondly called are looking to swim with the big fishes of African football. Cape Verde are on this stage for the first time but teams will underate them at their own peril. They qualified the hard way, significantly dropping giants Cameroon 3-2 on aggregate.  Winger Ryan Mendes who plies his trade at Lille in France is their wildcard. He could disrupt a few defences with his trickery and wit. At 22, Mendes scored three goals during qualifying and he's been outstanding for Lille. Other players to watch are, Odaïr Fortes and Marco Soares. Defender Nando is the team captain and most experienced player (38 appearances)

One thing they have going for them is their reputation for being well-organized in defense.

Morocco
On paper, South Africa's main rival in group A is Morrocco. Despite the absence of such established start like Marouane Chamakh (West Ham) and Adel Tarrabt (Queens Park Rangers), the Atlas Lions as they are popularly called are enjoying some sort of resurgence of form under coach Rachid Taoussi. They had to overcome a 2-0 deficit away leg to Mozambique in the final qualifying match, in which they won the home leg 4-0 to qualify. Coach Taoussi has a number of current top flight, European personnel at his disposal which includes Karim El Ahmadi of Aston Villa, Udinese defender Mehdi Benatia and former Tottenham Hotspur, now current Fiorentina striker, Mounir El Hamadaoui.

Angola
The final side to make up Group A are Angola. They have been twice quarter-finalists in the competition but never any further. Their main goal threat will come from former Manchester United striker Manucho who has an impressive record of 21 goals in 38 matches for the Angolans. If they are to proceed into the quarter-finals once more, he will have to be on top form. The Antelopes don’t play the most intense brand of soccer, but the technical quality is there. And they’re capable of getting out on the counter. Angola has the talent and pedigree to get out of this group, but drawn with the host nation, their path to the final eight is not without pitfalls. There are no easy games in this packet, and while the Angolans should be favored to advance, a second straight near miss wouldn’t be a shock.