Right, I will go for Egypt. On home soil, usually very strong. Cameroon are second favourites alongside Tunisia and Senegal. In that order. The Tunisians will have a good following across from Libya and have been playing some good stuff under Lemerre. Cameroon have one of the strongest squads out there, calling on Eto'o, Kameni, Geremi and Webo.
i would also say cameroon are favs. but somewhere i saw that eto might not play, due to barca or something like that, without eto, the team is not that strong
I voted Ghana but Cameroon also has a good chance. Egypt will be strong at home but my bet is they wont win it
Eygpt has two strong advantages: they're at home, and they're not trying to bring as many players back from Europe. It's not just folks like eto'o who are having issues (and he'll probably play) but when Senegal calls Sonko and he turns them down, it's a sign that a number of players have lost their belief in the necessity of this tournament (esp in a cup year). Tunisia and Morocco will also be strong in Eygpt, and while cameroon, nigeria and senegal have something to prove after failing to qualify, they're also pretty discouraged. Egypt wins at home, and in a northern final.
Hopefully the bonus disputes will be sorted. But can you image Wayne Rooney or Thierry Henry not playing for their team at their Confederation title tournament because of bonus payments and the like. Its a complete joke. Wenger and his comments don't impress me either. You reap what you sow if you field a team full of African players imo. I'm surprised Tunisia have not got many votes. I think they are really strong under Lemerre. And they will be playing in North Africa which will suit them and their style of play. As for Ghana, they are missing some big names (Gyan, Muntari and Essien) so I think they will be severely hindered in their quest to win.
Though I agree with your "reap what you sow" comment, I don't fault Wenger for saying what he's saying. He's paid by Arsenal; his job is to do what's best for Arsenal, not what's best for the Ivory Coast. On the topic at hand, I voted for Senegal, mainly because (1) they're not in the WC finals so this is the biggest tournament of the year, (2) they haven't lost a match since June 2004, and (3) I had a Senegalese cab driver a few weeks ago who spent a half hour telling me (after I asked) how good the team is. Not the greatest reasons, I admit, but when you live in the USA, media coverage of African national teams is, shall we say, sparse.
Cameroon, the upcoming summer will be the first WC in 16+ years they don't play in. They'll want to give the country a redemption Cup.
Forgive my ignorance, but since all the other countries are in their common English name, why is the ivory coast listed as Côte d'Ivoire? Am I missing something? Is the proper name of the Ivory Coast the Côte d'Ivoire?
Wikipedia can probably answer it better than I can... Officially - Cote d'Ivoire Unofficially in English - Ivory Coast
Cameroon have the strongest squad but the question persists as woo whether psychologically, they've recovered from their WCQ exit.