There are advantages and disadvantages in not playing qualifying matches when hosting a major football tournament like AFCON 12. The absence of tough qualifying matches might rob the host of the required scale to measure your strength.

On the other hand, the lack of exposure may prevent opponents from assessing the host’s exact strength and that enables them to take everybody by surprise.

This is exactly what is happening in Equatorial Guinea where the hosts have surprised everybody with two clear cut victories thus becoming the first to reach the quarter finals of this continental football fiesta.

Equatorial Guinea’s opening game win over Libya was regarded by some pundits as a fluke and that Libya coming from their huge political turmoil should not be regarded as any credible opposition.

But the hard fought 2-1 victory over the highly fancied Senegal boasting a number of experienced players of repute has shown to the world that a new football force is rising in the horizon.

At this juncture, mention can also be made of Zambia whose dramatic 2-2 draw with Libya has confirmed that their 2-1 victory over Senegal in the first round was quite deserving. This first drawn game in the competition that puts Zambia in pole position to reach the knockout stage, confirms my earlier assertion that the boys will be separated from the men quite early in this tournament.

With the unexpected demise of Senegal the other two so-called pre-tournament favourites’. Ghana and Ivory Coast are on notice that the going is going to be tough.

The two countries boast a cream of talented stars but were not at their peak in the first round and they would have to take a cue from Senegal’s bitter experience and up their performance in the second round matches against Mali and Burkina Faso respectively.

So far it has been a lively tournament with a lot of goals and despite the treacherous weather that destroyed the pitch in Bata, the standard of play was quite high and we expect more as the show progresses.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports

From the Archives:

Feb 6th 2000: Nigeria beat Senegal 2-1 in extra time to reach the semi-finals of the African Cup in Lagos.