Test Drive Feb 2015 | Page 14

Wrap Up Dumped out early! Cameroon, Cape Verde, Mali, Gabon, AFCON 2013 Runner-ups Burkina Faso and AFCON 2012 Champions Zambia had a short stay in Equatorial Guinea, writes Johannes Masiteng. T he 30th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was not a good tournament for some of the African football powerhouses. Despite his heroics in their AFCON 2015 encounter against Burkina Faso, Gabon skipper Pierre-Emmerick Aubameyang could not do anything to help his national team advance to the next round. The Gabonese finished third in Group A with one victory and two losses. 2013 Runner-ups Burkina Faso could not repeat what they did in South Africa two years ago as they collected a solitary point in their AFCON 2015 campaign. This sums up the Burkinabe’s performance in the tournament, having played in a total of ten editions and being eliminated in the first round 7 times. 2012 AFCON champions Zambia fluffed their chances and Cape Verde failed to build on their impressive 2013 Nations Cup campaign as they also failed to advance to the Last 8. Mali, who claimed the third spot in South Africa 2 years ago, were also knocked out in the group stages as the draw of lots favoured Guinea to progress to the next round as the teams were even on every statistic. The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and The Lions of Teranga, Senegal were tame as they also crashed out in the Goal poachers Sent packing Zambia and Cape Verde players comfort each other as their sides were eliminated in the first round. group stages. Senegal’s campaign started well with a win over Ghana and went on the draw against South Africa and lost 2-0 to Algeria, while Cameroon went home without a loss, having played three draws. Other national teams who did not impress include Algeria who were eliminated by Cote D’Ivoire and Tunisia who were eliminated by the hosts Equatorial Guinea. 1. Andre Ayew 3 Goals Goals scored 68 Goals 2. Javier Balboa 3 Goals Yellow Cards 87 3. Thievy Boifuma 3 Goals Red Cards 2 Penalties 7 Player of the Tournament Christian Atsu (GHA) (Pic) 14 AFCON 2015: The Review PEN OG Own Goals 1 PHOTOS: afcononline.com Some stats...