African Natons Cup

**Eric** · 25/01/2004, 1:14 PM

Who do ye reckon is gonna win it this year?? Nigeria are looking good with Jay Jay in such good form

**sylvo** · 25/01/2004, 1:53 PM

Still think Cameroon, mind you not to sure about that all in one kit, but a great tournament that i love watching, great football.

**adamcarr** · 25/01/2004, 4:37 PM

Cameroon will probably win it but nigeria and senegal have a good chance . Tunisia didn't look too convincing against rwanda yesterday and maybe mali have a chance with freddie kanoute

**eoinh** · 26/01/2004, 9:34 AM

Good to see the matchs live on eurosport.

i can see Cameroon, Mali or Senegal being the three favs.

and speaking of african football

http://www.soccercentral.ie/viewstor...&viewstory=yes

If Pats got him that would be some coup

**Schumi** · 26/01/2004, 12:37 PM

Cameroon looked good in the highlights last night and really should have won. They looked the best of the teams I've seen so far.

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2004, 12:39 PM

Haven't seen any of the action so far - is it any better than 2002? That was a pretty dire competition to say the least... I think the top scorer got three!

**MikeW** · 26/01/2004, 1:32 PM

Does anyone else think that the standard of African football has really stagnated over the last few years? Remember the Nigerians in USA 94, they were fantastic, a real breakthrough for the continent at the time and unlucky not to do some serious damage in the knock-out stages - but they've really disappeared since. They're a shadow of what they were back then at the moment.

Cameroon are probably the best that Africa has had to offer in recent years, but they're really not a world class side (failed to get out of our group in Japan/Korea, and looked quite ordinary in all three of their games) and make more news for their stupid kits than for their football. Senegal did fairly well, but I think that was more a fluke than anything (beating France anyone?), and I remain to be convince thst they're genuinely a top side.

Another thing that points to a lack of progress - El Hadji Diouf was African player of the year two years in a row recently. Sure he's a decent player (not that he shows it much at Liverpool), but if he's honestly the best player the entire continent has to offer for two consecutive years then I think they have some problems. There's only a handful of really top-class African players playing in Europe right now, despite the intensive scouting networks that many of the top clubs have there.

After the Nigerians in 94 people were convinced we'd see a real African powerhouse, capable of winning the World Cup within a matter of a few years, but it just hasn't happened and won't happen for a very long time by the looks of it.

**Beavis** · 26/01/2004, 3:21 PM

Yeah fair point,most of the players are languishing in the lower divisions of France and other leagues.
I watched Diouf in 2002 on Eurosport and thought he was a great player but his preformances in England have shown he must have been just against bad opposition.Mali beat Kenya today,it was great to watch because every time a team attacked you thought they could score cos the marking and general defending is terrible.But who cares it's much more interesting than if the far superior teams like Germany and Denmark met.

**eoinh** · 26/01/2004, 3:42 PM

The matchs so far have been very very entertaining.
As for Senegal they met 4 european teams at the world cup
they beat France (who were the reigning world champions) and drew with the danes.
in the second round they beat sweden.
in the qf's they only lost to turkey in extra time.

Cameroon are the reigning olympic champions i think.

african teams are improving constantly.

Latvia qualified for the European championships.

whos better Latvia or Kenya? well judging by what i saw today ild go for kenya

**Eric** · 27/01/2004, 2:41 PM

Snegal looked less than impressive against Burkino Faso (prob spelt wrong) last night. Diouf had a good first half but in all they didn't look very capable of breaking down a determined defence. Judging by that display I doubt they could be one of the favourites

**adamcarr** · 27/01/2004, 9:21 PM

Originally posted by adamcarr
Cameroon will probably win it but nigeria and senegal have a good chance .

I Might want to take bck my prediction after themy 3 teams didnt win their first match and senegal:WHO DE FCUK ARE BURKINO FASO

**eoinh** · 28/01/2004, 9:46 AM

Originally posted by adamcarr
WHO DE FCUK ARE BURKINO FASO

The country used to be known as Upper Volta. I think its the poorest country in the world

**pete** · 28/01/2004, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by adamcarr
I Might want to take bck my prediction after themy 3 teams didnt win their first match and senegal:WHO DE FCUK ARE BURKINO FASO

I think its somewhere in Africa

& i think get gpot the semi finals when they hosted a few years ago?

Kanoute never impressed at West Ham but much better now at Spurs. He looked impressive for Mali. Senegal looked poor. Didn't see Nigeria yet. Cameroon probably favourites cos of track record.

Anyone got the latest betting? must be some value bets around...

**pineapple stu** · 28/01/2004, 4:48 PM

Originally posted by pete
I think its somewhere in Africa & i think get gpot the semi finals when they hosted a few years ago?

Think that's right - were they the team who were 4-1 up with two minutes to go and ended up losing on penalties?

Incidentally, I think it's spelt Bourkino Faso.

**pete** · 28/01/2004, 5:16 PM

Originally posted by pineapple stu
Incidentally, I think it's spelt Bourkino Faso.

Doesn't really matter how its spelt when no one knows where it is

**Shed End John** · 29/01/2004, 12:33 PM

Originally posted by Eric
Who do ye reckon is gonna win it this year??

Saw Morocco beat Nigeria and they could really play a bit. Definitely the best team I've seen so far.

Pineapple stu, you're right and you're wrong. Yes they were the team that drew 4-4 with Congo having been 4-1 up with 5 mins left.
No, it's not Bourkina Faso, definitely Burkina.