The African Nations Cup is  only three weeks away and I assume that this is
the right time to assess the strengths  of the favorites that will partake in
this competition.  The tournament will be played in Ghana and Nigeria. It
will be the first time the tournament will be jointly hosted.  A great test
of our ability to work together.
As usual, the tournament will be broadcast around the World.  Our European
members of the list will have the privilege of watching it live on Eurosports
and other channels.  Omar and CO, please send us some tapes.  There will be a
few soccer bars that will broadcast the games live in major U.S cities.  The
matches might be broadcast live in Canada too.  Also, those of us that have
satellite dishes can watch some of the games on ART (Arabic Channel).  Call
your providers for more details.  The tournament is a big deal now and
hopefully the host nations will uphold their part of the bargain by making
sure the communication facilities that will ensure a smooth broadcast are in
place.

All the teams are in the process of making final preparations by camping in
Europe and elsewhere.  I hope we can get an exchange going on which teams are
the favorites.  It seems as if, like many other things in our beloved
continent, predicting an outcome is always hard.  But the one of the
following teams will definitely win the tourney: :^ )

NIGERIA
The Nigerians are camped in Malaga, Spain and, as usual, their preparations
have been chaotic.  But what's new?  Nigeria is a chaotic country and the
same rules apply to everything they do.  Only 16 of their army of
professionals have shown up for camp so far.  But their new coach, Jo
Bonfrere, has lot to do because they have been annihilated by two Spanish
regional sides in the past week.  However, with Nigeria friendlies don't mean
much.  After all, they got to the second round of La Mundial in France after
two weeks of training.  They are the top dogs and will be tough to beat in
front of 75,000 fervent fans in Lagos
Key players: Nwanku Kanu, JJ Okocha, Finidi George and Taribo West

MOROCCO
The best prepared of the lot. The Atlas Lions, under erstwhile coach Henri
Michel, have been preparing for years.  They seem to, unlike most teams south
of the Sahara, have their house in order.  Their preparations have been going
on for the past year and they have played against variety of European teams
with good results.  But the Moroccans have always wilted against the physical
West African sides like Cameroon and Nigeria.  They should get to at least
the quarterfinals and will be tough to beat.
Key players: Mustafa Hadji Youssef Chippo,  Mustapha Hadda, Adel Ramzy

SOUTH AFRICA
The best local players on the continent.  They have one of the best organized
domestic leagues and have a tons of technically sound players to choose from.
The Bafana Bafana, as they are fondly called, are probably the most
tactically ad technically adept side on the continent and their style of
soccer is closer to the European style.  They will be missing two key of
their main strikers Phil Masinga and Benni McCarthy. With top defender Lucas
Radebe marshaling the defense, I will not be surprised to see them play
cohesive tactical soccer on the road to lifting the cup.
Key players: Lucas Radebe, Quinton Fortune, Herman MKalele,

CAMEROON
The Camerounians have an impressive footballing legacy.  Undoubtedly the best
in the continent.  They also have a lots of good and physically strong
players all over the Europe and the country can be described as a soccer
factory. They could probably pick an all star village team and still qualify
for the cup.  Expect them to get past the first round and maybe all the way
to the finals.
Key players:  Rigobert Song, Mark Vivian Foe, Samuel Olembe, Patrick Mboma

GHANA
The Black Stars formerly known as the Brazil of Africa, despite never making
the World Cup, have a claim to African Team of The Century.  They have won
more Nations cups than anyone else. Also, other African sides have used Ghana
as a benchmark to gauge their strength.  Under Italian coach, Dossena, the
Stars just lost to Tunisia to end their 14 month unbeaten streak.  The home
field advantage will be a telling factor and the Ghanaians will be one of the
hot favorites to win the tourney. Their record in the junior tournaments has
been exemplary and they have outstanding professionals all over Europe.
Key players: Samuel Ossei Kuffour, Richard kingson, samuel Johnson, Charles
Okunnor, Samuel Asamoah

SENEGAL
The sleeper of the tourney will be Senegal. Les Guyndaye du Senegal.  Of
course our brothers and sisters from Senegal can be all talk. But, to their
credit, The Gambia has never managed to beat Senegal.  Les Lions, under
German coach Schittinger, have prepared well for the tourney.  They also had
to go the tough route to get to the event, playing against the highly rated
Zimbabweans and upstart Eritrea.  But our neighbors did us proud and
qualified against tough odds.  Among their impressive results have been a
draw with Morocco, yet another thorough beating of our beloved Scorpions and
also a victory over Cote D'Ivoire. I expect them to spring some major upsets
and they should at least get to the second round.
Key players: Henri Camara, Alieu Cisse, Kalilou Fadiga

Well, this is a brief synopsis of the teams that I think will have a major
impact on the tourney.  Let me know what you think.

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