African Nations Cup

If ever there was a tournament for serious investors not to wager on it is this one! Only have small bets for fun!

I hope this clarifies the matter and save you loadsamonet!

Mr 77, thank you for your valued second opinion.

One thing i remember about last years tournament is the odds for goals were always really high but we didn't get a single 0-0 until the final. Goldmine for the 0-0 layers.

Looking through the teams i'd expect Ethiopia to be the whipping boys, almost their entire squad play in Ethiopia, the standard must be terrible.

Nothing beats the African Cup of Nations.

Goalkeepers in tracksuit bottoms
Strikers who just blast the leather of it whether they are 2 yards out or 40.
Balls flying into the stands with regularity
Waist high tackles that dont even warrant a freekick let alone a card.

Its Sunday morning football on a continent-wide scale. You will be tearing your hair out if you back overs and watch yet another glory hunter give it the Larry-Launch from the edge of the box rather than play his team mate in who has an open goal.

I also love the African Nations. As a betting proposition, there's normally some value to be had because oddsmakers don't have much of a clue. There are also some deliciously random factors like whether the players have got paid, an agreed bonus structure, the domestic political situation as well as the normal ones like how good the manager is etc.

Value in the market is created by Ivory Coast being around 7/4 and SA (who are terrible) at around 9s. There's nothing wrong with Ghana at 7s, but the local coach (who may be very good, but no idea really) and absence of Boateng, Muntari, Essien and Ayew tapers my enthusiasm. It may be he picked the players he thought he could handle. CI have the best players in Dogbreath and Yaya, but defence is still average, keeper still crap and most of the players are older and in less good form than they were last time round. SA are at home but have no good players at all and Pienaar has retired. The expectation will be to win, but I can see them not qualifying for the KO.

Nigeria have a decent coach, but squad is pretty average (Mikel is the star turn) and can comfortably be left alone at 9s. Zambia are solid and although some mediocre performances in friendlies have seen them drift, they look reasonable at 16s or bigger.  Algeria are poor value at 14s. Mali are interesting at 16s and could surprise a few, but lack the overall quality to win. Might be distracted by what's happening in their country, though these can sometimes work in both ways, as with CI last time round. Tunisia have a good ANC record but upheaval in the country seems to have impacted and can be taken on at 20s.

The ones I like are Morocco at 16s upwards. Another local coach but taken some bold but sensible decisions to leave out the likes of Taraabt and Chamakh and a recent winning track record with the Arab Nations Cup. Solid defence with Benatia at core and a bit of star quality with Belhanda. Barrada and El-Arabi seem decent enough and are indicative of overall solid standard of the squad.

Of the outsiders, Angola and DRC might surprise a few and should be good for some individual match bets

My bets
Morocco 2pt win @ 16s
Ghana 1pt win @ 7s
Zambia 0.5pt @ 16s

Four 0-0s in the tournament previously. Though the first game would have been hair-pulling out time for some punters. 4-0 to Angola with 10 minutes to go, 4-1 with a minute left, and 4-2 deep into injury time but still finished 4-4.

Sorry, I meant previous to that one, following on from previos post.

DR Congo look to have a strong team especially with Mbokani up front

I hope Zambia can do it again, they play nice football.

Having had a good look at this, I can't be a backer of the Ivory Coast at those prices. I like the looks of Mali at 14/1. A solid spine to the team, I think Ghana are vulnerable in Group B although agree Congo could be strong, the draw opens up for the winner of this group.

back under 1.5 every game.... = moneys

Nice to see Mark Langdon reads the forum - I'll take my commission when they come in...

About to kick off... thoughts on SA?

cape verde wearing barca colours

a sign?

they might as well show live sunday league football, better standard..

first 20 minutes has flown by

What a game!

they love blasting it in to the stands. has no player ever watched a previous ANC games and seen this happen before

120 ITV4

they always draw the opening game