 With football on the Sportsmax zone another edition of the Africa Cup of Nations set to kick off on Saturday in the Ivory Coast and of course your home of champions will be bringing you all the action from the biggest football tournament on the continent and with us to break down what is lining up to be another special tournament is our football ace analyst, Ligé Williams. Ligé let's first run through the sixth. Wait did you write this segment? Hold on, Lance is that an upgrade? That wasn't the problem. It's not the first time that I'm calling him or football ace. Lance really likes it. It's the first time I'm hearing it. I'm hearing it. Is that an upgrade? You have promoted Mr Williams. It's not an upgrade because I've been labelling him that for several months now. So for several months now you have given him a promotion, an upgrade. If you want to take it that way, yeah. Did it come with pay? Well... Why are they contesting my return that I used to present? If I'm being honest... I was only asking a question. And if I'm being honest I know Ligé was the producer for this segment so I wasn't looking up. I was actually making down some notes. I didn't write that. Sir Lance is very appreciative of the quality. He's really been batting for you in the meeting. Yeah, of course. Which is right. Sir Lance doesn't make much runs. I didn't make a lot of runs the last cricket match I played but it's okay. Ricardo, let's leave that one there. Let's have a look at the groups now, Ligé. Yes, because Africa Cup of Nations football is always very, very exciting. And for the last decade or so we've had a different winner. It's every two years we've had a different winner during the two seasons. Seventy-seven consecutively. Yes, we've had different winners. So group A has the hosts, Equatorial Guinea Bissal and Nigeria who are multiple champions, three-time champions. How is this group looking? I think how the African Cup of Nations is set up. It's very rare that you're going to see any of the big guns really fall out early because of the 24 contesting teams, 16 go through to the knockout stages. So I think it should be safe sailing for Ivory Coast and Nigeria and maybe a third place from this group as well. But I highlighted Ivory Coast and I highlighted Nigeria because there are two teams that are seen as really big kinds of African football, especially if you think about it from a European sense looking on. But as of late we haven't seen either of them really live up to those expectations. The mid-2000s, we saw Ivory Coast being labeled as the favourites year on year but it was really Egypt, a team that we'll get onto that really won all of those trophies. Nigeria, they're a team that has their attack is ridiculous to be honest. But I think they'll be pegged back a bit because they'll be without their key midfielder and Wilfred Ndidi and one of their leading strikers, Victor Boniface, he will be out of the competition as well. So it will be all up to Ossiman, let's see what he can produce and if Nigeria are going to win this competition it will be through his goals. Let's look at Group B now and see how the teams are stacking up there. Cape Verde, there is Egypt who have been hugely successful, the most successful team in the Africa Cup of Nations, seven-time champions. They were back to back to back winners in the 2000s decade. Ghana, who have been tremendously successful in FIFA age group like on the 17 competitions but not so much at the senior level and Mozambique. Yeah and the two middle countries there highlighted Egypt and Ghana. You mentioned that Egypt have been wildly successful, the most successful team in the African Cup of Nations history. The first winners, the only team to win three consecutive titles as well and you know they've gotten to two of the last three finals without being successful. So I think if there is pressure on any team, any player to deliver something in this tournament I think it would be on Egypt and Mohamed Salah I think for his reputation especially seeing that Sadio Mane got his first triumph, Senegal's first triumph in the Cup of Nations, I think Egypt to really say that they're the top guns of African football and Mohamed Salah to really put a case forward as one of the best African players of all time. He has to deliver in this tournament. Alright, let's look at group C now for the Afghan, the African Cup of Nations, Cameroon. Only Egypt are more successful than they have been in the history of this tournament but they have got Gambia, Guinea and the reigning champions to face. Yeah and it's going to be, I think this is the toughest group. Guinea and Gambia are not pushovers by any stretch of the imagination. Cameroon, they had a relatively successful tournament last time coming third. They had the top goals, Kora Victor, Abubakar, Vincent Abubakar, eight goals that's a stunning return in any international tournament. He'll be returning, a lot of Cameroon's players are aged in a bit. Same with Senegal really but I'm sure they'll be on a high. No team has recorded back-to-back Afghan victories since Egypt in the mid-2000s. I think it was 2008, 2010 so they'll be looking to really break that curse and try and see if they can push through and get the victory this time. Yeah, of course we remind you that there's live commentary on Sports Max 2 on the opening day coming up on Saturday as we continue to look at the groups involved here in the Africa Cup of Nations. Rupi, Algeria Angola, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. I think they should be a pretty straightforward group for Algeria. I think Avdem is one of the favourites. They won the tournament before the last one. They have retained a lot of their better players. Re-admires, you know, not anymore of Man City fame but he's still a fantastic player. Ismail, Benazir, Algeria has a lot of really good players. They'll be looking to make a dent in this tournament. I just can't have them as the favourites anymore but they're definitely one of the favourites. Burkina Faso are very usually a very solid unit. Yeah, so Algeria are looking comfortably here in Group D. Yeah, I think so. How about Group E? How are we looking for that? Yeah, you know, this is a group that could go several different ways. You know, you have Tunisia who are a team that's usually very solid. They have gone to the knockout stages in the last ten editions of the tournament. South Africa, they're always a team looking to do well as well. Namibia, I'm not quite sure how they'll fare in this group. And Mali, they have one of the best young cores, especially he spoke about how Africans can really produce at the unders level. Mali went to the under-17 World Cup this year and played third. A lot of, you know, I'm not quite sure. They didn't pick so many of players from that squad. You know, Ibrahim Dair, I think he's one of the brightest young players in world football. He wasn't selected. So I'm not quite sure what was the rationale behind that, but Mali are a team that can make some waves in this tournament. And finally, Group F. And the team stacking up there. And I think the... Morocco, Tanzania and Jambia. Yeah, and I think this is a group that has the favourite for most people. Morocco, you know, Morocco, they went to the semifinals of the World Cup. They're a team that, you know, really captured the hearts of everyone who was watching on and they still retain all of that quality when you speak about from the back to the front, Bono in goal, Agar at the back, Amrabat and Oani in the midfield. And then Ziek, who isn't coming into the competition in a lot of form. But then a lot of the creative burden is taken off him because of Abdeh, who's really emerging at Real Betis and not to mention Yusef El-Nesiri as well. So on paper, I forgot to even mention Afrafa Kimi. So on paper, this Morocco team is the quality team. But when you think about it, I always say I'm a betting man. I don't bet against the trends. And Northern African teams always struggle to translate when they're forced to play or they're playing the African tournament in other parts of Africa. And this competition is in the Ivory Coast. I'm not one to bet against it. So although Morocco do seem like they're coming in as favourites, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Western African teams really emerged this time around and get the victory. Yeah, and Leger, you know the bookmakers, they have already put out their teams because we're getting ready for a big day tomorrow. They have said that Senegal, they're betting on Senegal to of course retain their title. Do you agree with that narrative? And if not, who's your team to take it all? That's a tough one. I just said that I can't go against the trends and the trend is that it's the last seven competitions, there's been seven new winners. So I can't go and say that a team is going to know, retain, especially when you think about their talisman, Sadio Mane, how influential he was in the last tournament. For him now to be outside of European football, same as Edward Mende, the best goalkeeper in the tournament. For them to be outside of European football, I'm not quite sure of the motivation or how sharp they are coming into the tournament. So I'm not quite sure if they will get it done. I was banking on Nigeria a lot, but I think the recent losses of Boniface and indeed I think we'll hamper them a bit. So right now I'm not quite sure. I know I'm usually the guru. Well, not usually, I am the guru. But I'm not going to put out on my eggs in one basket right now because of the uncertainties around the squad. I don't bet blindly, that's not what guru is doing. I'm just wondering where Ricardo is juggling. Oh dear, I just said oh dear. I mean... Anyway, in addition to following AFKON, you'll also be an analyst for the Issa Schoolboy Football, Scholastic and All-Star Exhibition Games on Saturday. What can we expect from that? Yeah, I think we'll expect some good football. You know, some of the best youth players across the island, you know, playing in the respective games. You know, the Scholastic game is players that may have missed out a bit on being named to the All-Star team, but they're being recognised because they've managed to couple their good football play with good schoolwork as well, which is a difficult thing to do. You know, Ricardo was a former student athlete yourself, Sir Lance, and you as well, Ricardo. You know, Ricardo is so successful in his things in sports at the high school level, so he would know how difficult it can be. And look at him now, he's here, he's brilliant, you know. Are you trying to get a raise? No, not right now. But, you know, I think it can be a really good opportunity to showcase. I'm sure there'll be a lot of scouts around, and they won't only be around for the All-Star game, but there'll be a lot of scouting versus All-Dakasta. You know, that's going to be a good one, I think. It usually is, usually is full of goals, and I'm looking forward to covering it on Saturday. Yeah, and a good lead to put on a schoolboy football season, that was tremendous. Yeah, there was so much quality in the schoolboy football season. As I always say, year on year, you know, I've been following schoolboy football for basically as long as I can remember watching football. And I think year on year, we're seeing how the improvement of football in Europe, especially, has filtered down into the coaches here, and it's led to a lot of quality, tactical approaches, a lot of quality players as well, shining through. So, it was definitely a very good year of schoolboy football, and I'm expecting it to get even better in upcoming years. Yeah. All right, Lige, always great having you live sitting on the set with us here on the Sportsmax zone. We look forward to your coverage of the All-Star Scholastic Games on Saturday. Fly from the national stadium on the home of champions and as we said earlier in the segment, presenting to you on the home of champions, the Africa Cup of Nations for the next few weeks, live exclusively on Sportsmax and Sportsmax 2. We go to break, back with more on the zone after this. Thank you.