Afcon 2013: Group B Begins as Mali Take Pole Position

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 21, 2013

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The second day of Afcon competition kicked off in Port Elizabeth, as Group B’s four teams roared into action. With the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali and Niger all competing, fans had a chance to assess the future prospects of the four nations and to begin to judge the dynamic of a group which is among the tightest in the competition.

From my personal point of view, the opening match between Ghana and the DRC was of particular interest; in a recent previews piece I tipped Ghana to be the eventual tournament winners, while I also picked Congo out to be the Dark Horse of the competition—the team that people expect little from, but who actually have the capacity to flourish and prosper, particularly with the pressure off.

Both teams have endured tournament run-ins rife with turmoil and disarray, but the two squads still possess quality enough to trouble the majority of the other teams in the tournament.

Ghana are without players good enough to make the first eleven of any other national side: injury, suspension, retirement and disagreement have ruled out Kevin-Prince Boateng, Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari and Ayew brothers André and Jordan—that is an assemblage of talent whose loss would be hard for any team to overcome and yet, among their ranks, Ghana still possess some of the continent’s finest players.

My colleague Sam Tighe predicted Kwadwo Asamoah to be one of the tournament’s stars, whilst I myself have long championed the qualities of the likes of Christian Atsu and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu. Despite their absentees, Ghana may well have enough talent to see them right through to the final reaches of the tournament.

For the Democratic Republic of Congo, problems have emerged not from squad selection, but from a bonuses row which had threatened to leave the team split and ruin the spirit of the bunch. Fortunately, it seems like those...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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