So after the troubles in Angola, the tournament has progressed to the Quarter-Final stage and we have seen some great, average and poor football in the last 2 weeks, and hopefully the great football will continue.

Let’s have a look at the teams that have progressed.

Group A – A tense finish to the group saw ANGOLA and ALGERIA play out a 0-0 draw and both teams qualified to the last 8, I have been impressed by Angola going forward, Flavio before his injury was playing well, Mabinda going up the right flank has shown lots of ability.

Algeria had an awful start against Malawi looking shaky at the back, this has since improved, a strong showing against a poor Mali, the standout players being Bougherra and Halliche at the back and Yebda and Matmour in midfield. The Jury is out though, they could have easily been put out, English fans looking on will not be worried for South Africa in June. 



                                                                                                      
Group B – This group went mainly with expectations IVORY COAST and GHANA progressing, The Cote D’Ivoire bombared Burkina Faso’s goal in the first game but couldn’t find a winner, and then Gervnho insprired them to victory against Ghana.

Ayew’s header was enough to help Ghana progress, a young team without the main stars not sure how far they can go, we can only wonder how the group would have gone if Togo had have been part of it.






Group C – The powerhouses of EGYPT and NIGERIA dominated this group, everyone had written off  Egypt’s chances, and when Obasi put Nigeria 1 up in their head to head meeting the critics had seemed right until Egypt took charge and won 3-1, 2 goals from Motaeb and Nagy Gedo saw the Pharoahs win all 3 games.

Yakubu’s penalty was enough to see the Super Eagles squeeze past a spirited Benin, the Peter Odemwingie’s double against set up victory against Mozambique, it was also good to see how much the other 2 nations had come on.




                                                   Group D – Probably the shock of the group stage the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia sitting at the bottom of Group D with ZAMBIA proudly on top, starting with a draw against Tunisia and defeat against Cameroon, noone would have thought Zambia would win the group but goals from Kalaba and Chamanga were enough to see off Gabon, all they needed was Cameroon to win or draw.

CAMEROON bounced back from the defeat against Gabon to defeat Zambia 3-2 Eto’o opening his account for the tournament, he then added a 2nd against Tunisia, but it was Celtic’s Landry N’Guemo who scored the equaliser which saw Tunisia go out and Zambia go through.


The Quarter-Finals are as follows:

24th Jan – Angola v Ghana – Luanda
24th Jan – Ivory Coast v Algeria – Cabinda

25th Jan – Egypt v Cameroon – Benguela
25th Jan – Zambia v Nigeria – Lubango

Angola v Ghana will be interesting, for the hopes of the tournament I hope Angola will advance, if Flavio is back upfront I can see them having too much for the young Ghana side.
Ivory Coast v Algeria depends on what Algeria turn up, they have not impressed so far, but did qualify for the World Cup, I think Drogba Elephants will be too strong for Algeria.
Egypt v Cameroon is a fantastic match up, both have excellent players, Cameroon a little older, maybe more experience, however Egypt are playing some good football for me, this will be the standout match, too close to call.
Zambia v Nigeria is hard to call aswell, Zambia will be up for this but have not beaten a big team yet, Nigeria could be too good for them however Zambia will not want the fairytale to end just yet, not since 96 when they came third have they reached this stage.

Looking forward to 4 exciting games, I will try and go a proper report on all the remaining games, so stay tunes for them.

Ciao