Strong French presence at African Nations Cup

January 5, 2010

There will be a strong French presence amongst the coaches at the African Nations Cup this month for the second consecutive tournament with five of the 16 in Angola hailing from the European state.

There were also five French handlers at the 2008 edition in Ghana although none survived to be involved in the first showcase of African football staged by a Portuguese-speaking country.

Jean-Francois Jodar (Mali), Roger Lemerre (Tunisia), Henri Michel (Morocco), Robert Nouzaret (Guinea) and Claude le Roy (Ghana) were the French representatives at the previous tournament.

And in Angola it will be the turn of Michel Dussuyer (Benin), Alain Giresse (Gabon), Paul le Guen (Cameroon), Herve Renard (Zambia) and Hubert Velud (Togo) to try and become the fourth French creator of champions.

Le Roy, a striking figure with flowing blond locks and now in charge of Oman, guided the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to a 1-0 victory over Nigeria in the 1998 Casablanca final.

Lesser known Pierre Lechantre was next to succeed, also with Cameroon, in 2000 and once again the runners-up were Nigeria after a Lagos penalty shoot-out.

Lemerre completed a unique double in 2004 when he lifted the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia to the top four years after steering France to the Euro title with a golden-goal triumph over Italy.

Le Guen, a French Ligue 1 title winner with Lyon, is well placed to succeed in Angola while his four compatriots will struggle to get their adopted countries beyond the first round.

Disciplinarian Le Guen inherited a mess when he took over Cameroon in the middle of last year from former national team goalkeeper Thomas ‘Black Spider’ N’Kono, who lasted just one game after unpopular German Otto Pfister quit.

The 45-year-old Frenchman elevated Inter Milan striker and three-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o to captain and predecessor, veteran central defender Rigobert Song, was axed from the starting line-up.

His bold moves paid off with Cameroon defeating Gabon in Libreville and Yaounde inside four days to rise from the bottom to the top of a 2010 World Cup-Nations Cup qualifying group.

Further wins at home to Togo and away to Morocco assured the Indomitable Lions not only of a place in Angola, but a record sixth appearance by an African country at the World Cup when South Africa stages the 2010 tournament.

Coaches from Portugal, Nigeria (two each), Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Malawi, Netherlands, Serbia and Tunisia complete the line-up for the January 10-31 Nations Cup in Luanda, Benguela, Cabinda and Lubango.

LUANDA (AFP)

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