African Cup of Nations Preview: Sudan

There are now only eight days until Ghana 2008 gets going, which means eight more teams to preview. It also means we’ve reached the halfway point of our African Cup of Nations preview so feel free to take a breather.

With Group A and Group B behind us it’s time to move on to Group C, and we’ll start with Sudan. The Desert Hawks are former AFCON winners (1970) and hosted the first ever tournament (1957,) but no one has seen them at an African Cup if Nations since 1976. Sudan have dropped their most famous player and are one of the few teams with mostly domestic players. So come on in and meet the Desert Hawks.

Nickname: Sokoor Al-Jediane (Desert Hawks)

Jersey: All red (home.) All white (away.)

Geography:“Situated in northeast Africa, the Sudan is the largest country on the continent. It is bordered with Egypt to the north, Ethiopia and Eritrea to the southeast, Kenya, Uganda and Zaire to the south, the Central Africa Republic and Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest.” - The Africa Guide

History: Sudan have an impressive early AFCON history, finishing third in 1957, second in 1959 and again in 1963 and then winning the whole thing when they hosted in 1970. But it’s been all downhill since then, with 2008 marking the Desert Hawks first African Cup of Nations appearance since 1976. Sudan have never qualified for a World Cup.

Manager: Mohamed Abdallah is did a fine job to get Sudan to Ghana 2008, especially for a part timer (he’s also assistant coach at Al Merreikh.)

FIFA World Ranking (December 2007): 92

Expectations: Coach Abdallah has said it’s a great opportunity for his players to get some experience and maybe catch someone’s eye and earn a move to Europe.

Pros: Well, Sudan topped Tunisia in qualifying, so that can’t be bad. And though other teams can boast big name players earning wheelbarrows of money in European leagues, Sudan a mostly domestically based team who will all be extremely familiar with each other. The provisional 29-man squad was drawn mostly from Sudan’s two biggest clubs, including 12 players from Al Hilal and 10 from Al Merrikh (where Abdallah is on the coaching staff.) Sudan are noted for their hard-working and physical approach that could surprise their more illustrious Group C rivals.

Cons: Abdallah shocked everyone by leaving out influential attacking midfielder Faisal Agab, who may be 37 years old but scored 5 of the 13 goals that got Sudan through qualifying. Despite their hard-working approach, Sudan will find it pretty much impossible to match Group C rivals Egypt and Cameroon for quality. Sudan’s warm-up for the African Cup of Nations isn’t going all that well, with a recent 6-0 defeat to Guinea being a blow to morale.

UPDATE: Faisal Agab has been restored to the Sudan squad.

Player to Watch: Well it would have been Faisal Agab, but coach Abdallah had other ideas. Still, legendary midfielder and national team captain Haitham Mustafa will be worth watching, as will big defender/defensive midfielder Rtshard Justin Lado (pictured, aka Richard Lado.)

Team Blog? No. But if you’d like to blog about the Desert Hawks for us then let us know and we’ll get you set up.

Fixtures: In Group C with Zambia, Egypt, Cameroon
Sudan vs Zambia (Kumasi, January 22nd, 19:30)
Sudan vs Egypt (Kumasi, January 26th, 19:30)
Sudan vs Cameroon (Tamale, January 30th, 17:00)

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Bahaeldin Abdallah (Al Merreikh), Mahjoub El Moez (Al Hilal), Akram El Hadi Salem (Al Merreikh),

Defenders: Mohamed Ali Khider (Al Hilal), Ahmed Al Basha, Musa Al Tayeb (both Al Merreikh), Omar Bakheit (Al Hilal), Amir Damar (Al Merreikh), Alaeldin Ahmed Gibril, Khalid Hassan (both Al Hilal)

Midfielders: Yousef Alaeldin, Hamouda Bashir (both Al Hilal), Badreldin El Doud (Al Merreikh), Saifeldin Ali Idris, Hassan Isaac Korongo, Rtshard Justin Lado (all Al Hilal), Mugahid Mohamed (Al Merreikh), Haitham Mostafa, Mohamed Tahir (both Al Hilal)

Forwards: Abdelhamid Amari, Faisal Agab, Alaeldin Babiker, Haitham Tambal (all Al Merreikh)