[HastGill1]

GROUP D: CAMEROON, GABON, ZAMBIA, TUNISIA

01-13-2010 Cameroon v Gabon
01-13-2010 Zambia v Tunisia
01-17-2010 Gabon v Tunisia
01-17-2010 Cameroon v Zambia
01-21-2010 Cameroon v Tunisia
01-21-2010 Gabon v Zambia

Cameroon

Definitely one of the favourites for the crown, Cameroon may well have come good at the right time having won their final 4 fixtures of the qualifying campaign..Paul Le Guen was appointed in June and is credited with being the mastermind being this turnaround after Cameroon previously looked uncertain of qualification, one thing he did was promote Samuel Eto’o to captain and he responded well to the added responsibility..one thing that Cameroon have in their favour is a solid goalkeeper (which cannot be said for many of their rivals) Idriss Carlos Kameni (Espanyol) is possibly the best African goalkeeper around, the stage also seems set for Stephane M’bia to become one of the outstanding performers in the Cameroon team he is hard running and along with Song (Arsenal) they will be getting plenty of possession to playmaker Emana (Betis)..we all know what Eto’o can do upfront..

For me they are one of the contenders for the crown, they surprisingly left Bassong (Tottenham) out of the squad and teammate Assou-Ekotto is going to miss the tournament through injury but they have a very good side and anything less than the semi-finals will be a big disappointment..

Recent Results

WC Qual 05/09/09 Gabon 0-2 Cameroon
WC Qual 09/09/09 Cameroon 2-1 Gabon
WC Qual 10/10/09 Cameroon 3-0 Togo
Friendly 14/10/09 Angola 0-0 Cameroon
WC Qual 14/11/09 Morocco 0-2 Cameroon

Win the Group: 1.7
To Qualify: 1.07
Win the Competition: 6.5

Gabon

Gabon were still in with a shout of WC Qualification with 3 games to go which was no small achievement for a country of under 2 million, coach Alain Giresse has built the team but they face an uphill task to qualify..they co-host the tournament in 2012 and with a little patience they could have a competitive side for the tournament but it is thought that this tournament may come a little soon for them..

The skillful Pierre Emerick Aubameyang was a consistently good performer during the qualifying stages and will be looking to keep that going into the finals, Hull striker Daniel Cousins has also returned to the international fold after ignoring call-ups for a few years, expect him to be one of their better players..a problem they may have is that many of their players have been without club football recently, expect them to struggle..

Recent Results

Friendly 10/08/09 Benin 1-1 Gabon
WC Qual 05/09/09 Gabon 0-2 Cameroon
WC Qual 09/09/09 Cameroon 2-1 Gabon
WC Qual 10/10/09 Gabon 3-1 Morocco
WC Qual 14/11/09 Togo 1-0 Gabon

Win the Group: 10.5
To Qualify: 3.4
Win the Competition: 51

Zambia

They play more international football than most other countries, a benefit of having only a few players playing abroad, which therefore makes it easier to set aside more dates for potential fixtures, but any advantage seems to be lost with their high turnover of players..Coach Herve Renard foolishly made his target of the quarter finals public before the draw was made and will probably have regretted it when they were drawn with Cameroon and Tunisia..Zambia are very consistent in qualifying for the finals but it has been 14 years since they last made it out of the group stage and that is unlikely to change this time around..

In terms of the players, the pace of the Katongo brothers is a weapon going forward but they are likely to be poor at the back again and lightweight in midfield, goalkeeper Mweene is fairly highly thought of though..

Recent Results

Friendly 28/10/09 Mozambique 0-2 Zambia
Friendly 31/10/09 Zimbabwe 3-1 Zambia
WC Qual 14/11/09 Rwanda 0-0 Zambia
Friendly 20/11/09 Zambia 4-1 Korea DPR
Friendly 27/11/09 Kenya 0-2 Zambia

Win the Group: 17
To Qualify: 5
Win the Competition: 101

Tunisia

Tunisia surprisingly lost out on WC qualification after a hugely disappointing 1-0 loss away to Mozambique, a result that cost coach Humberto Coelho and his entire backroom staff their jobs..they secured their African Nations finals place with ease but it is almost an afterthought after the WC failure..Coach Faouzi Benzarti has replaced Coelho, and he has arrived in similar circumstances before in 1994 when Tunisia lost the opening game of the Nations Cup they were hosting, and it looks like he has again inherited a team in transition..

Many of the Tunisia national squad is now based in Europe and the production line of players is good, however they never travel well outside of North Africa and there is a chance they will struggle to progress too far in Angola..midefielder Ousemma Darragi has attracted interest from Europe and will be looking to put himself in the shop window during the tournament, Ben Saada is another exciting talent in the side..

Tunisia are an interesting team in that they are quite solid and conservative (which probably cost them WC qualification) but have players that could get them into at least the semi’s, but it will depend on how they recover from the WC disappointment..they should qualify from what is a difficult and tight group, and if they gather some momentum they could go far, they certainly have the talent..

Recent Results

Friendly 12/08/2009 Tunisia 0-0 Ivory Coast
WC Qual 06/09/09 Nigeria 2-2 Tunisia
WC Qual 11/10/09 Tunisia 1-0 Kenya
Friendly 14/10/09 Tunisia 0-1 Saudi Arabia
WC Qual 14/11/09 Mozambique 1-0 Tunisia

Win the Group: 4
To Qualify: 1.36
Win the Competition: 20