COTONOU: The Squirrels of Benin will be featuring at their third Nations Cup finals to further underline the steady progress this tiny west African country has made in recent years.
It was not until the 2004 Nations Cup in Tunisia that Benin debuted in the Nations Cup and they ended up not winning any game and scoring just once. Four years later, the Squirrels again qualified for the tournament in Ghana, where they again lost all their group games.
They qualified for Angola 2010 after they finished behind group leaders Ghana in the combined 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifying tournament with 10 points from six matches.
The Squirrels parade a young team who are very athletic, good going forward and capable of scoring against any team. Star attractions will be Nigeria-born striker Razak Omotoyossi, who features for Metz in the French lower league, and the mesmerizing Stephan Sessegnon from Paris Saint-Germain.
Sessegnon, for one, has been an international since June 2004 and featured at the 2008 Cup of African Nations, where Benin were eliminated in the group stage.
At club level, Sessegnon has continued to shine with his vision, skill and occasional goals sparking transfer rumors among top English clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City
However, lack of experience and exposure at major competitions could work against them, particularly in a tough first round group that has defending champions Egypt and Nigeria.
Benin FA president, El-Hadji Anjorin, has predicted his team will beat Mozambique in their opening group game and thereafter take their chances against the better fancied Egypt and Nigeria.
When you reach this type of competition it s because you ve worked hard. Everything now depends on how we prepare. It will be easy for us to beat Mozambique so once we have negotiated those three points, we can go on to make sure we go through to the next stage, said Anjorin.
The Squirrels have again found themselves in a very tough group and unless they upstage either Egypt or Nigeria, they would again be home very early. -AFP
