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Ghana v Botswana, AFCON Betting Preview

Written by Chris Sturdy

football.afcon_ghana The Black Stars of Ghana get their AFCON 2012 campaign under way when they meet Botswana at Stade de Franceville, Gabon on Tuesday. Ghana are hot favourites to win Group D and second best in the betting to win the tournament outright whilst Botswana are debuting at the finals.

There is bound to be huge interest in Ghana who are joined by Mali and Guinea in addition to first time finalists Botswana in this group. Beaten finalists in 2010 (by Egypt), the Black Stars have a strong squad although there is no Prince Boateng or Essien these days and one or two doubts have been cast over the fitness of key striker Asamoah Gyan. There is still plenty of top quality in the ranks though and Ghana breezed through qualifying for these finals with five wins and one draw in six group games. The Black Stars conceded just once in the qualifying group and the defence is again marshaled by John Mensah. Full squad details are available here. Going back to the 2010 finals in Angola, the Black Stars lost their opening game, 3-1 to Ivory Coast. Their squad was depleted by injuries at that time but the youngsters came good and they won their next three matches all by a 1-0 scoreline before being edged out by Egypt (1-0) in the final. With many of the squad again taking part here, you can understand why Ghana are many peoples idea of the team to give Ivory Coast the most to worry about.

We will have to see to what extent the gloss has been taken off Botswana's achievement in making these finals. By all accounts the players refused to train for a couple of the days at their first camp in preparations for these finals due to a row over bonuses. A 0-0 draw with an under strength Zimbabwe team followed but the squad subsequently moved on to a second training camp and one would hope they will now be fully focused on the task in hand and the chance to surprise a few people. On qualifying form Botswana should not be dismissed out of hand in terms of being competitive in this group. They finished three points clear of best runners up Tunisia with 17 points from eight qualifiers comprising, five wins, two draws and just one defeat. Those games saw Botswana score just seven goals in total but defensively they were terrific, conceding just three times. Draws in friendly internationals in Niger (1-1) and Nigeria (0-0) towards the end of last year provide further evidence that “The Zebras” could be dangerous to underestimate.

The Betting, Match Result

Ghana 7/20 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting, Sportsbet, Hollywood

Draw 4/1 Ladbrokes, BetXchange

Botswana 16/1 BetXchange

Selected Others

Under 2.5 goals 15/20 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting, Voltbet, BetXchange

Over 2.5 goals 11/10 Voltbet

HT/FT Ghana/Ghana 11/10 Sportsbet

HT/FT Draw/Ghana 33/10 Sportsbet

Note, odds are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change. Not all bookmakers had priced up at the time of writing and many more markets are available. Watch out for the option to bet “in play” where available

Analysis

I'm going to take a chance that Botswana's problems with keeping their players happy financially will not have a major impact here. If I'm wrong, Botswana could be buried by Ghana but their defensive record in qualifying was impressive and they were in a competitive group. Ghana too can be relied on to keep things tight so “unders” is the call.

Bet: Under 2.5 goals 15/20 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting, Voltbet, BetXchange

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