The African Cup of Nations has come to life heading into the semifinals on Thursday. The exciting play started last Friday with Cameroon’s 2-2 draw against Tunisia. In the quarterfinals, host Angola fell to Ghana and Algeria beat the Ivory Coast. The biggest quarterfinal matchup was Egypt and Cameroon, a grudge match of the final two years ago. Just like in Ghana in 2008, Egypt came out on top with the help of captain Ahmed Hassan. It was his 170th cap, putting him ahead of his Hossam Hassan to take the African record.
Hassan started out of character, scoring an own goal from a corner he lost in the sun. After pointing some fingers at his teammates, he got back to his old ways as a captain and responded with two goals to give Egypt the 3-1 victory. Egypt is the top contender for the Cup, despite a failure in the World Cup. They can be backed at 13/8 with Bet365 and Stan James. Ghana has the next best odds at 20/3 with Boylesports. Algeria is 4/1 with Ladbrokes and Nigeria is 4/1 with Coral to round up the semifinalists.
Looking ahead to the World Cup in June and July, Ghana has odds to win of 80/1 with Coral and Blue Square. Algeria is at 500/1 with Paddy Powder. Algeria faces England in the World Cup Group State and England is backed at 11/2. Each Spain is 9/2 and Brazil is 5/1 with Bet 365 to win.