El Hadji Diouf makes Ghana U-turn

Senegal striker El Hadji Diouf has surprinsingly tipped the Black Stars are one of favourites for next month's African Cup of Nations.

The enigmatic Bolton ace played down the chances of the Ghana at last year's tournament in Germany but the Black Stars finished as the only African country to reach the second round of the World Cup.

That seems to have changed his mind but he firmly believes he can help his country's long wait for their first Cup of Nations title.

The Senegal captain believes victory in Ghana will be even sweeter because he believes the 26th Cup of Nations will be the toughest yet.

"Everybody knows that Senegal is always amongst the favourites in this competition," Diouf said.

"This time, I think that if we play the way we did during the qualifiers, we have a chance. We have been to a final, semi-final and hopefully this year we can go all the way.

"I think that if we get quality pitches in Ghana then we will see some very good football. We have so many good teams in this year's tournament.

"There is Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Angola, Nigeria, Mali, and Guinea. I think this is the hardest African Nations Cup ever to win because every team has good players."