The Africa Cup of Nations showcases the finest of the continent's
football stars, but most of them will be coached by Europeans at
the tournament which kicks off Sunday with host Angola taking on
Mali.
While Frenchman Hubert Velud's Sparrow Hawks of Togo pulled
out of the tournament Saturday following an armed attack on the
team bus which left three people dead, organizers have said the
tournament will go ahead as planned.
The west African nation's withdrawal left Group B with only
three teams - Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.
While the group has been galvanized by a potential tussle
between Chelsea clubmates Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, the
real contest could be between Bosnian tactician Vahid Halilhodzic,
who coaches Ivory Coast, and his Serbian counterpart Milovan
Rajevac, who manages Ghana.
Ivory Coast, which won the African Cup in 1992, will be
looking to improve its competition record and pressure will rest on
the shoulders of Halilhodzic, who has several European-based stars
at his disposal, including Drogba, Yaya Toure of Barcelona, his
brother Kolo of Manchester City and Chelsea's Salomon Kalou.
"We will do everything to go and win something in Angola,"
Halilhodzic said. "It will not be easy because there is Cameroon,
Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria and even Angola."
Midfield enforcer Essien's stellar passing skills could come
in handy for Rajevac.
"I am a perennial optimist," Rajevac said. "It's a big
competition and I am happy to lead a wonderful group."
Portugese coach Paulo Duarte heads the Stallions of Burkina
Faso.
Group D is an almost exclusively French affair with Paul Le
Guen leading four-time champion Cameroon against Alain Giresse's
Gabon and Herve Renard's Zambia. Only Tunisia has a home-grown
coach, Faouzi Benzarti.
Le Guen is a fiery former France defender who helped Lyon to
three successive French league crowns between 2002 and 2005 before
spells at Glasgow Rangers and Paris Saint-Germain.
"We want to do well, go as far as possible and why not come
out winners?" Le Guen said.
With only the group winner and runner-up assured of a spot in
the quarterfinals, Le Guen's dream of helping Cameroon to its first
title in eight years could be dashed if he fails to subdue his
familiar foes.
Group C features another French coach, Muchel Dussuver of
Benin and little-known Dutchman Mart Nooij, who has led Mozambique
since early 2007.
Also in the group is Nigeria, headed by local coach Shaibu
Amodu. Hassan Shehata proves that African nations do not need to go
overseas to assure themselves of success.
Shehata is looking for his third straight Africa Cup title
after leading six-time champion Egypt to victory in 2006 and 2008.
In Group A, host Angola is coached by another Portuguese
coach, Manuel Jose, who knows all about winning in Africa - he has
led Egyptian powerhouse Al-Ahly to four African Champions League
titles in eight years.
Also in Group A is landlocked Malawi, which like World Cup
finalist Algeria has a local coach. Mali, coached by Nigerian Steve
Keshi is also in the group.
