At Visa trophy tour, panel picks Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt for AFCON title

AFCON Trophy

One of the usual suspects will win next month’s African Cup of Nations billed to start in Cote d’Ivoire on January 13, 2024. This is the verdict of a panel picked to dissect the chances of the participating countries at a trophy viewing event organised by VISA, one of the sponsors of the biennial championship.

Visa recently welcomed its partners and lovers of African football in Nigeria to an exclusive viewing of the AFCON trophy, which arrived in Lagos on December 14.

The four-man panel comprising Charles Ogundiya of New Telegraph newspaper, Onyinye Ogu of Galaxy TV, Peter Edema of Daily Independent and Africa’s first female pidgin commentator, Tracy Chapele also known as Suo of Wazobia FM, were convinced that one of Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria and Cameroun will win the title currently held by Senegal.

The panelists looked at the pedigree of the teams and the quality of stars they have in arriving at their choice, although they did not rule out any of the outsiders from causing an upset as was the case when Zambia won the title in 2012.

Chapele who picked Morocco and Senegal as the frontrunners, said, “Morocco showed at the last World Cup that they are a team to reckon with. I believe this is their best opportunity to win the Nations Cup after many years.

“Senegal as the defending champions still have some the best African players and they have been together for long. So, they can retain the title all things being equal.”

To Edema, who picked the Super Eagles for the crown they last won in 2013, “it is very early to pick any of the top teams for the title. Any of the top-rated teams could succumb to a referee’s bad call in a game or a players/administrators’ crisis can make nonsense of a top team, just as