Sports Spread Betting - African Cup Of Nations 2008

But make sure you read our African Cup of Nations preview before you wager one single Rand on this year's tournament!

African Football-The Lowdown
Past African Nations tournaments and African teams' participation in the World Cup have been punctuated in equal measures by attacking flair (think Roger Milla) and defensive ineptitude personified by the Cameroonian & Nigerian teams of the early 90's -which often seemed to have centre-forwards for centre-halves!
But wait, now they have utilised their natural athleticism and learned to defend so well that even the great Arsene Wenger chooses to populate his defence & midfield with Africans!

Premiership Players
While most critics of the influx of foreign players into the Premiership would have you believe that the final could be akin to a Portsmouth v Arsenal fixture, other clubs, notably Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle & Reading will all be hit by the loss of key players.

Probably the biggest stars on show in Ghana will be Chelsea's Didier Drogba & Salomon Kalou, Arsenal's Kolo Toure & Emmanuel Eboue (all Ivory Coast), Portsmouth's Kanu, Newcastle's Obefami Martins & Everton's Yakubu (all Nigeria).

Who Are The Favourites?
Recent history is on the side of Ghana -with the host nation having made the semi-final in each of the last six tournaments (and winners of the last two). The bookies have them as 4/1 favourites, although on paper, the strongest team has to be Ivory Coast (9/2) -with seven Premiership players, including the top class quartet of Drogba, Kalou, Toure & Eboue. Whilst the Ghanaians can also boast players from the English top-flight in their squad, only Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari are regular starters -and much will depend on their performances.

The Indomitable Lions, better known as Cameroon , have under-achieved in the last two tournaments after winning the cup in both 2000 and 2002. Their front two of Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o and Nice's Joseph Desire Job will fancy their chances of grabbing a few goals in the group stages -but the real competition begins in the second stage. They should have enough class to get them through to the semi-finals, but may meet their match in the form of the Ivory Coast.

Games You Shouldn't Miss!
The good old BBC are showing many of the games on BBC2 and many others on their interactive service (with the red button) and on their website. If the Women's World Cup and the 2006 tournament is anything to go by, then the coverage will be excellent -with the highlights programme being shown just as you get in from the pub! The only down side is having to watch Garth Crooks stumble through his lines...
With no time difference between Ghana and the UK, most of the games will be in the early/mid evening viewing slots (7pm and 9.30pm kick-offs). Every group has a big game -as the main teams spar for top spot.
All of these should be worth a look:

Who Will Win It?
Should the games go to form (and the African Nations Cup is usually quite good), we should see a clash of the heavyweights in the quarterfinal with Ghana & Nigeria doing battle. If you're looking for a prediction then I would expect the two semi-finals to be Ghana v Egypt and Ivory Coast v Cameroon , with the pre-tournament favourites Ghana and Ivory Coast facing off in the final in Accra on Sunday 10 th of February.

And the winner? Well for me it has to be the Ivory Coast, who although they have had a last minute change of coach (Gerard Gili stepping in for Uli Stielike) are packed full with talented players and have the added advantage of being next-door neighbours to Ghana -so it's almost like a home fixture (although no-one actually plays in the African League anymore!).

So get on the Cote d'Ivoire before they get any skinnier than the 9/2 on offer!

Where Should I Bet?
If you're spread betting then look no further than Sporting Index, they have markets for groups, outright, total goals, goal minutes and converted & missed penalties!
Paddy Power as ever offer the full range of markets with odds on offer for group winners, outright winners and top goalscorer. If you're looking for some value in the goalscorer race then look no further than the Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan. His goals have helped propel his club team Udinese to the dizzy heights of fourth place in Serie A this season -at 14/1he looks a very good price indeed!

TABLES, RANKINGS & ODDS

GROUP A
Team	FIFA Rank	Win Group	Win Cup
Ghana	43	4/6	4/1
Morocco	39	11/4	16/1
Guinea	33	3/1	28/1
Namibia	114	50/1	200/1

GROUP B
Team	FIFA Rank	Win Group	Win Cup
Ivory Coast	37	6/5	9/2
Nigeria	20	15/8	7/1
Mali	46	9/2	18/1
Benin	97	40/1	200/1