Africa Cup of Nations Group C Gets Decided Today

January 30th, 2008 | by: Daryl | View Comments

It’s the final round of Group C today, with Cameroon, Egypt, Sudan and Zambia all scrapping it out for those two shiny quarter-final spots. Egypt lead the way with six points, while Cameroon and Zambia trail with three points each. Sudan currently have no points and no goals but are somehow still in with a chance. A very very small chance that requires them beating Cameroon 4-0, but still a chance.

Egypt are looking to emulate Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire by going three for three with nine points and topping the group. But should they lose to Zambia, and Cameroon beats Sudan, we’ll face the nightmare calculator scenario of Egypt, Zambia and Cameroon all being tied on six points.

We might also see some history today, as a certain Samuel Eto’o needs just one goal to become the top Africa Cup of Nations goalscorer of all time. Here’s what Group C looks like, and what the four teams must do to advance.

Today’s games:

Egypt vs Zambia – LiveBlog (1700 GMT)

Cameroon vs Sudan – LiveBlog (1700 GMT)

Who needs what:

Egypt will top Group C with a win or a draw. The only way Egypt don’t make the quarterfinals is if they lose by three or more goals to Zambia and Cameroon beat Sudan.

Cameroon can guarantee qualification by beating Sudan. If they draw then they need Zambia to fail to beat Egypt.

Zambia will qualify if they get a better result than Cameroon today (ie they win and Cameroon draw, or they draw and Cameroon lose.) Should Cameroon and Zambia both win that would create a three way tie at the top on six points, so Zambia would need to beat Egypt by at least three goals to get the superior goal difference.

Sudan need to beat Cameroon by at least four goals and Egypt to beat Zambia. One of these events is highly unlikely.