African Nations Cup moves to Equatorial Guinea after Morocco chose to boycott the original venue due to Ebola fears.  This competition is probably the most open of all Continental tournaments with all nations genuine runners for the title.   Most winners since the inception of the teams competing here:

 

•  Ghana  4 wins  (63,65,78,82)
•  Cameroon  4 wins (84,88,00,02)
•  DR Congo 2 wins (68,74)
•  Ivory Coast 1 win (92)
•  Zambia 1 win (12)
•  Tunisia 1 win (04)
•  Algeria 1 win (90)
•  South Africa (96)
•  Congo (76)

The format of the competition is simple with Group winners and runners up going through to a last 8 and a knockout format. The fascinating aspect of this years edition is the draw has been unfortunate to the majority of the big guns as we have pretty much two groups of death (C & D) with the other two groups containing the outsiders.

The favourites of the competition are Ivory Coast (4/1 Unibet) with players of calibre in all positions they are the best squad for sure (Toure brothers, Tiote and Gradel  all quality  - they have an embarrassment of riches upfront with Kalou, Doumbia, Gervinho, Bony and Traore all available. Next up we have Algeria (5-1 Ladbrokes) they may be a surprise 2^nd favourites but they did progress from a tough group in WC 2014 in Brazil and only just lost to Germany after extra time. Their side has quality abound too and they have the current African player of the year in Yacine Brahimi. They have quality in all areas with the likes of Bougherra, Mesbah, Feghouli, Slimani and Soudani.  Another of the favourites are Ghana (9-1 Bet365) – The Black Stars were exciting in World Cup 2014 but ultimately just fell short. They have real star power to with the timeless Asamoah Gyan running the  line and others such as Boye,  Agyemang-Badu plus the exciting Ayew brothers Jordan and Andre.  Of the outsiders Gabon have shortened considerably you can still get 40/1 with BWin but they are down to 12-1 in places after a lump of bets. Gabon are in the easier half of the draw with A & B having the lesser quality side. Gabon have the likes of Manga, Madinda and Evouna. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading the Gabon strike line they have one of the hottest properties in European Club football. A dark horse long outside bet for me is DR Congo (70/1 Unibet) the country that was formally Zaire have a long pedigree in African Football and here they have some exciting younger players. In the easier half of the draw they have a real chance of progression. They don’t have the names of the other countries but in Bokila, Bolasie and Mbokani they have great variation in attack and Malumbu and Makiadi in midfield are decent.

Some great bets  coming our way in the next month as we get underway shortly.   Other antepost opportunities on offer are Top Goalscorer. Here we highlight a few players and their season to date statistics plus total country games and goals.

 

Wilfried Bony (Swansea)  22 games 9 goals -  Ivory Coast 32 games 11 goals – 6/1 Coral

Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain)  12 games 10 goals – Ghana 86 games 45 goals – 10/1 Ladbrokes

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund) 25 games 11 goals – Gabon 38 games 14 goals -20/1 Betvictor

We will take a closer look at the games and betting opportunities nearer to the weekend. 

Happy Punting!

Dan