In the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations draw in the Ivory Coast on Thursday, there is a possibility that Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco could end up in the same group.
The six top seeds for the draw include Morocco, who made history at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by becoming the first African semi-finalists. Nigeria falls among the second seeds, while South Africa finds itself among the third seeds.
If we add surprise 2021 Cup of Nations quarter-finalists Gambia from the fourth seeds, this could create a challenging and competitive “group of death.”
Nigeria, with three-time championship wins in African football, and former champions South Africa had hopes of being seeded higher. However, they were unable to secure top-seed status due to the host country rule, where the host nation automatically qualifies and is always among the first seeds.
To accommodate the ninth-ranked Ivory Coast, sixth-placed Nigeria had to accept second-seed status, sharing it with Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
South Africa, previously ranked above DR Congo, saw a change in positions when the rankings were finalized. Despite South Africa’s victory over DR Congo in a friendly match shortly before the rankings were released, they ended up placed one spot below DR Congo.
Shock champions
The other third seeds are Cape Verde, Guinea, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania while the fourth seeds include Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Gambia and Tanzania.
Shock 2012 champions thanks to a penalty shootout victory over Didier Drogba-inspired Ivory Coast, Zambia are back at the Cup of Nations after three straight failures to qualify.
Zambia and Mozambique, whose last appearance was in 2010, are the only qualifiers who have not featured in at least one of the last two tournaments.
Despite a poor Cup of Nations record, Morocco is set to be installed as favourites to win the January 13-February 11 competition.
They have been champions just once in 33 editions — topping a 1976 group in Ethiopia in one of only two editions where a mini-league determined the champions.
In the last Cup of Nations, hosted by Cameroon in 2022, Morocco was eliminated by Egypt in the quarter-finals.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui, mastermind of the stunning World Cup campaign after taking charge just a few months earlier, says he will quit if his team fails to at least reach the semi-finals.
“We must be at least in the semi-finals of the CAN (Cup of Nations). If I do not go to the semi-finals, I will leave on my own,” he told the Moroccan media.
“I told my players that we cannot be kings of the world before being kings of our continent. Everyone wants to beat Morocco after our results in Qatar.
“This makes it more difficult for us to win, but it also motivates the players to improve and I welcome that.”
All six top seeds plus Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, DR Congo, South Africa and Zambia have won the Cup of Nations. The other champions — Ethiopia, Sudan and Congo Brazzaville — did not qualify.
AFP
