World Cup Betting: What did the Cup of Nations tell us about African teams?

World Cup Betting / Ben Lyttleton / 03 February 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

As the dust settles after an up and down Cup of Nations, Ben Lyttleton considers the African sides' chances of success at the World Cup.

"The problem for the hosts is that the continent's strongest football nation, Egypt, who have now won the African Nations Cup for a record third successive time, won't be competing."

Angola 2010 was supposed to be the tournament that made the world sit up and take notice of African football; the moment when we could imagine Pele's famous prediction that an African side would soon win the World Cup (he actually said it would happen before 2000) finally coming true. Instead, we had controversy, drama, tragedy, and intrigue, but I don't think we have seen a team that could emerge as potential world champions later this year.

The fact that the final was played between one side that haven't even made the World Cup, Egypt and another, Ghana, who were missing their three best players and forced to field eight of last year's Under-20 World Cup-winning side, says a lot about the quality on display. Add to that the final being such a dismal spectacle, and that the match-winner and tournament's top scorer Mohamed Gedo did not start a single match, and you have a compelling argument for ignoring the [12.5] price on an African side emerging triumphant in South Africa.

That said, two of the qualified African sides can approach the summer tournament with renewed optimism: Algeria looked appalling in their opening 3-0 loss to Malawi, which coach Rabah Saadane blamed on the hot temperatures, but somehow pulled things round and beat the Ivory Coast 3-2 after extra-time in an astonishing quarter-final. "We may not be a team of Ronaldinhos but we have spirit and guts and this tournament has given us a boost before the summer," said Madjid Bougherra.

Algeria are ([4.6]) to qualify from Group C but that should be beyond them, especially if Fifa carry over the suspensions of Nadr Belhadj, Rafik Halliche and Faouzi Chaouchi, who were sent off in the semi-final against Egypt, into the World Cup.

Ghana provided the feel-good story of Angola: because they were without John Pantsil, John Mensah, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari, Laryea Kingston, and Junior Agogo, Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac picked eight of the Ghana players who won the Under-20 World Cup in 2009. Players like Samuel Inkoom, the right-back, centre-backs David Addy and Isaac Vorsah, and wingers Andre Ayew and Kwadwo Asamoah, came out of Angola with great credit.

"We have witnessed the birth of a new generation," said Ayew, the son of Abedi Pele. The only problem for Ghana is that they have been drawn in Group D alongside Germany, Australia and Serbia: a tough group but one they could get out of. They are a tempting ([2.32]) to do so. With USA (or England) potential last-16 candidates, Ghana could be the African team to watch and reach the quarter-finals.

What of the pre-tournament favourites for Angola, Cameroon and Ivory Coast? The Ivorians looked off the pace throughout, from their goalless draw with Burkina Faso to that defeat to Algeria. There is no doubt that the Togolese bus shooting in Cabinda affected them - they wanted to quit the tournament but were told by their government to stay on - while captain Didier Drogba was afraid of being "shot like a rabbit" during training-sessions.

Their sub-par performances don't explain why their To Qualify price is still [1.9], with Brazil [1.15] and Portugal [1.74], but perhaps the verdict of coach Vahid Halilhodzic was more telling: "Some of my players can't handle the favourites' status and the problem is in their heads," he said after their elimination. This is not the first time the Ivorians have capitulated in this tournament - two years ago they were hammered 4-1 by Egypt in the semi-finals - and Halilhodzic seems unconvinced by his players' mentality.

Cameroon boss Paul Le Guen has even more problems, if his side's performances in Angola are anything to go by. He started with Rigobert Song, dropped him, then re-instated him, and should have another look at Sebastien Bassong before the summer, although his general chopping-and-changing suggests he has no idea what his best 11 is at the moment. He picked such a bizarre side for the quarter-final loss to Egypt that there were rumours that captain Samuel Eto'o had exerted too much influence on the coach.

Cameroon are [2.02] to qualify from Group E and even that seems too short. South Africa did not even qualify for the African Nations, and they are [2.8] outsiders to get out of Group A.

There's no doubt that the first World Cup to be held in Africa will be a thrilling affair. But the problem for the hosts is that the continent's strongest football nation, Egypt, who have now won the African Nations Cup for a record third successive time, won't be competing. As if to prove they are good enough for a place in South Africa, they won the tournament by beating all four of the qualified African teams along the way.

Tags: African Cup of Nations betting, Egypt, football betting, Ghana, South Africa 2010, World Cup 2010 betting