Who goes to Kumasi?

Preview: Felix Abayateye (Courtesy Amstel)

THERE is hardly any doubt that Ghana and Cameroun have justly acquitted themselves as the two best teams in Group A that will advance to the quarter-finals of CAN 2000 after today's last preliminary matches of the group in Accra and Kumasi.

But what remains doubtful is who will take the top spot of the group as they head for the top-of-the-table battles with Ghana against Cote d'Ivoire in Accra and Cameroun versus Togo in Kumasi.

Both games, coming off simultaneously from 4 p.m. local time, are of mathematical importance more than the surprise element that they may entail. Obviously, the big game is the Accra Stadium encounter between the Black Stars and their perennial rivals, the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire who took a 3-0 beating from Cameroun's Indomitable Lions last Friday night. The result propelled Cameroun to the top of the table on superior goal difference, one more than Ghana with whom they are tied on four points after two matches.

While it is the expectation among Ghanaians that the Black Stars achieve a similar or even better scoreline against the Elephants today to top the group, one can't expect less among Camerounians as the Lions also take on The Hawks of Togo in the other match in Kumasi.

But why would the Black Stars or the Indomitable Lions want to top the group when qualification to the next round is already within grasp? Of course, the next stage of the competition, appropriately dubbed the knock-out stage, is where one bad result automatically takes a team out of the tournament, and therefore every team would have to worry about who their opponents would be at this stage of 'sudden death'. By the pairings, Group A winners face Group B runners-up in the quarter-finals in Accra while Group B winners encounter Group A runners-up in Kumasi. With one game more, South Africa are easily winners in Group B on six maximum points, while Algeria follow in second place on four points.

And tournament analysts believe that South Africa's Bafana Bafana, appear tough candidates in the competition by their showing so far and would remain a danger in the quarter-finals in Kumasi where they would receive the Group B runners-up.

And one reason why both Ghana and Cameroun may be shying away from this potential danger is the stark fact that the Bafana Bafana reduced them to nothing in the 1996 finals in South Africa, each suffering a 3-0 defeat — Cameroun in the opening match and Ghana in the semi-finals. With this hindsight, both the Black Stars and the Lions will be entering today's matches with the determination to top the group and to postpone such an early meeting with the South Africans in the competition. That does not however mean the Desert Warriors of Algeria, the Group B runners-up, will come any easier for either Ghana or Cameroun. But analysts think the Algerians are not as deadly as the South Africans and could be handled without much difficulty. However, for the Black Stars to scale this, the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire still remain their problem, because in spite of their rivalry, the Ivorians would be out for a last ditch performance to at least score a victory before falling out of the Nations Cup.

But this looks quite herculean for the 1992 champions who beat the Black Stars in the final of that championship on a memorable 10-11 penalty shoot-out but who four years later were roundly beaten 2-0 by the Ghanaians in the group matches in South Africa.

Bakayoko, Sie Donald Olivier, Guel Tchiressona, Kone Brahima and veteran goalkeeper Alain Gouamene may be determined to put the 3-0 humiliation of last Friday night behind them but Stars' skipper C. K. Akonnor and co may be as merciless as the Camerounians, who are also tipped to send Togo out of the tournament with a rout at the Kumasi Stadium.

• The LOC has announced that the old rates will be charged today and for the rest of the matches: They are wings ¢20,000, Upper Terrace ¢7,000, Osu Stand ¢5,000, North Stand ¢4,000 and Popular Stand ¢4,000.