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

Zambian Captain, Chris Katongo with the AFCON trophy

Zambia are the current holders of the trophy. They shocked Africa last year conceding just three goals all competition to win the Nations Cup. Since then however, they've blown hot and cold really, merely scraping through to this year's final via yet another another penalty shoot-out victory over. Their defensive discipline stood out last year and that again will be their greatest weapon they can counter to devastating effects. Key to their showing at this year's AFCON will be the performance of Kennedy Mweene, Stoppila Sunzu and Emmanuel Mayuka. Not forgetting Christopher Katongo; He's 30 and a hero in Zambia. He was named player of the tournament in 2012.

Nigeria dominate group C on paper but this is a very open group in reality. They are SIX-times AFCON finalists but have only won it twice. Nigerian Football in recent years have been in a lul but recent showings by the team in games played show promises of a revival of some sort. If there's any man who understands what winning the AFCON means, it's the current coach of the SUper Eagles. He decided to give the home lads a chance and has given 6 of them spots in his squad. All eyes will definitely be on the Chelsea duo of John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses but I think the star of this team will be Ikechukwu Uche. Scoring comes to him naturally and this might just be the tournament that puts Nosa Igiebor in people's consciousness. So watch out for those two.

Ethiopia and Burkina Faso make up Group C, hoping to make a name for themselves at the tournament. Neither side have any real AFCON pedigree of late, although Ethopia did win the title in 1962. Adane Girma of Ethiopia was the man who held his nerve in the last minute of a qualifier against Benin, with a penalty which bought their ticket to South Africa. Burkina’s best result in this competition is fourth place back in 1998; they have an array of young talent that will be on show at the championships.

For Bourkina Faso, watch out for Alain Traore, Moumouni Dagano and Bakry Kone while for Ethiopia, Degu Debebe and Adane Girma.