The delayed TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 to be held between January 9 and February 6, 2022, would not be for the faint-hearted according to Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr.
Palpable fears are coming out of the Cameroonian capital city of Yaoundé as the 24 teams including the hosts will know their fate later today when the draw for the continent’s flagship tournament is made at the Palais des Congrès (Conférence Centre).
Already in Yaounde for the draws, Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr told Nation Sport that all coaches are waiting with bathed breath for the draws, adding none of the six seeded teams would wish to have either AFCON record seven-time winners Egypt or 2015 winners Cote d’Ivoire in their company.
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With Nigeria being one of the six seeded teams including hosts Cameroon, defending champions Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, and Morocco, the exigencies of the draw means the Super Eagles can be drawn against any of the six teams in the so-called second-zone that house Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali Egypt, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.
“I have had good conversations also with my colleagues,” Rohr told NationSport.“ Every one of the top 6 wants to avoid Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire.
“But we will accept and respect all the teams,” added the German.
In a related development, CAFOnline.com quoted a Cameroonian sports intermediary Billy Houto as saying that the hosts must avoid both Egypt and Ghana in the preliminary first round to have any realistic chance of progressing further in the tournament.
He said: “The opponents to avoid in my opinion are Egypt and Ghana in pot 2. They often caused us a lot of problems during the AFCON finals. In pot 3, we have to avoid the Gabonese neighbour with whom we have a political history.”
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