Walter Nana Wilson, AfricaNews reporter in Buea, Cameroon
Michel Dussuyer, the Frenchman managing the Syli Nationale of Guinea has reiterated his stance that the Black Stars of Ghana are the favourite for the Orange AFCON 2012. Guinea crashed out of the competition on Wednesday night after they could only manage a 1-1 draw with four-time winners Ghana in one of the last Group D matches.
Ghana, who last won this tournament in 1982, will face Tunisia in one of the quarterfinals on Sunday, February 5 2012.
"I said it before the tournament that Ghana are my favourites to win this competition and even after how the referee helped them against us I still believe they can go all the way here," said Dussuyer. "They are a much organized team. They are a great team and against such a team you cannot afford to make any mistakes like we did against them," he added.
Dussuyer lashed out at South African referee Daniel Bennett for only penalizing Guinea in the first half of the match against Ghana, while he also questioned the first booking Mamadou Bah received before he was eventually red-carded.
However, he said he was satisfied with the overall showing of the Syli National at this tournament. "I'm satisfied with my team. We played well but could not qualify," he remarked.
"We will continue to work hard and improve and hope to qualify for the next tournament. We will now look to the future. We have a young team with many of the players getting only their first experience at the Nations Cup in Gabon.
We have learnt after playing at a high level competition like this. We played good football and showed we have qualities. Therefore we are looking forward to a very positive future," he noted.
In the other Group D match, the Zebras of Botswana, first timer at the AFCON, lost their third consecutive match 1-2 to the Eagles of Mali. The Botswana national team, led by Stanley Tshosane, quit AFCON 2012 with zero point, while Mali’s second victory propels them to the quarters, with six points to their credit and second in Group D.
The football feast begins on Saturday, February 4, with two fixtures in Equatorial Guinea - Zambia and Sudan in the mainland port city of Bata, followed by the co-hosts against Côte d'Ivoire in the island capital Malabo.
Gabon stages both Sunday, February 5 showdowns with the co-hosts playing Mali in the coastal capital Libreville, before Ghana tackle Tunisia in the south-eastern city of Franceville.
Michel Dussuyer, the Frenchman managing the Syli Nationale of Guinea has reiterated his stance that the Black Stars of Ghana are the favourite for the Orange AFCON 2012. Guinea crashed out of the competition on Wednesday night after they could only manage a 1-1 draw with four-time winners Ghana in one of the last Group D matches.
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