As the African Nations Cup kicks off this weekend, the battle in group C for the top spot will certainly be betweenNigeriaand defending Champions,Zambia.
The two nations will battle to win group C and so avoid mightyCoted’ Ivoire in the knock out stage of the AFCON. Other teams in the group C inNelsprint,Burkina FasoandEthiopiacan equally define the final standings as no nation in African football is regarded as underdogs after whatCape Verdedid toCameroon.
Already the January 25 clash between the Super Eagles and Chipolopolo (the Copper Bullets) has generated a lot of excitement even before a ball is kicked in anger.ZambiaCoach Herve Renard has already stoked the fire by saying he has not been impressed by Eagles in the pre-match AFCON warm-ups and that his team wants to win their group. “We want to finish top of our group like in 2010 and 2012. It’s not easy, but we want to go as far as possible because this team has fantastic spirit”, the French man said.
Both teams parade some exciting players like Reinford Kalaba, Stopilla Sunzu(Zambia) as well as Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses (Nigeria).
They have met 16 times, four of which were at the AFCON withNigeriahaving the upper hand as they have won three and drawn one of these clashes.
But whileZambiahave retained the bulk of the team who surprisedAfricawith as many as 17 players who will be making their AFCON debuts.
Meanwhile,Burkina FasoandEthiopiahave both boasted they will go past the first round stage with the Wallia Antelopes fromAddis Ababaimpressive in tune-up matches for the AFCON.
