Cote d'Ivoire are now fully
conscious of the fact that talent
and experience alone will not put
an end to their decade-long
trophy drought. Although they
finished the year 2012 at 14th position in the Fifa ranking ahead
of Uruguay, Brazil and France, and
they are considered the number
one African team across the
previous 12 months, they are not
comfortable with being tipped as the favourite for the 2013 Africa
Cup of Nations title. This is not
the first time the golden
generation is being favoured to
clinch the title, which has
remained elusive. They now prefer a low profile instead, with the
logic of putting every other team
on top as possible winners,
perhaps relieving the pressure in
the process. Could it be a
strategy, characteristic modesty or pretence? Nobody can tell for
sure at the moment, not even
coach Sabri Lamouchi, who has
earned some trust from officials
and local fans since taking over
from Francois Zahoui in May. The former Inter midfielder says
Algeria and Tunisia are the teams
to beat in Group D and that Togo
are a tricky side that no coach
would handle without caution. Togo have been absent from the
continental scene for more than
two years during which the
football federation endured
numerous internal crises which did
not permit any meaningful progress in the country's
football. Coach Didier Six, who was
appointed in November 2011, has
been able to sustain the vision
and objectives of the Sparrow
Hawks in the midst of confusion,
negligence and interference from the authorities and the FA.
However, he has confessed his
inability to solve the team's
many problems, such as issues
relating to his captain Emmanuel
Adebayor and goalkeeper Kossi Agassa. Opening against the continent's
best team will be a major
challenge for the ambitious
Frenchman, who, beside his
bosses' objective to qualify the
team to the knockout phase, wants to prove that he is a
great coach.