JOHANNESBURG, Jan 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Experienced forwards Vincent
Aboubakar, Karl Toko Ekambi and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting should ensure hosts
Cameroon finish first in Group A at the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks
off next Sunday.

   Saudi Arabia-based Aboubakar scored the late winner when the Indomitable
Lions came from behind to defeat Egypt in the 2017 final and win the flagship
African competition a fifth time.

   Ekambi plays for Lyon and Choupo-Moting for Bayern Munich and they are
part of a 27-man squad composed of stars based in Europe and the United
States, with no local making the cut.

   Here, AFP Sport puts the spotlight on the four Group A hopefuls with the
winners and runners-up assured of last-16 places while the best four third-
placed teams from six groups also qualify.

   Cameroon

   In the early editions of the Cup of Nations, hosts performed successfully,
winning three of the first four. But times have changed.

   Only two of the last 12 tournaments were won by the host nation with
Tunisia triumphant in 2004 and Egypt two years later.

   Cameroon are staging the Cup of Nations a second time after finishing
third behind Congo Brazzaville and Mali in 1972 when only eight countries
competed.

   "They can win it," says Cameroon legend Samuel Eto'o of the Aboubakar-
captained class of 2022, whose immediate goal will be to top Group A and meet
one of the third-placed qualifiers in the second round.

   Burkina Faso

   The Stallions enter the Cup of Nations in a confident mood after twice
drawing with 2019 Cup of Nations winners Algeria in recent World Cup
qualifying.

   Blida, 45 kilometres (28 miles) southwest of Algiers, is known as the
"slaughterhouse" and Djibouti and Niger will attest to that moniker having
conceded eight and six goals there in World Cup thrashings.

   While the Burkinabe failed to secure the win in Blida that would have
taken them to final round, a depleted side clawed back twice to draw 2-2 with
captain Issoufou Dayo converting a late penalty. Major boosts are the returns
from injury of Aston Villa forward Bertrand Traore and Abdoul Fessal Tapsoba,
a Standard Liege attacker who starred in the World Cup campaign.

   Cape Verde

   A win and draw against Cameroon in 2021 Cup of Nations qualifying and a
draw away to Nigeria in 2022 World Cup qualifying suggest that the Blue
Sharks will not be pushovers.

   They represent a Portuguese-speaking nation off the west coast of Africa
with a population of less than 600,000, whose football team is on the rise
again.

   Cape Verde reached the quarter-finals in their 2013 Cup of Nations debut
and goal difference prevented them repeating the feat two years later.

   They missed the last two editions, but have bounced back under coach Pedro
'Bubista' Brito and captain and forward Ryan Mendes, who was involved in the
previous two finals appearances.

   Ethiopia

   Only two of the 25 players chosen by coach Wubetu Abate play abroad --
midfielder Shemeles Bekele with El Gouna in Egypt and forward Mujib Kassim
with JS Kabylie in Algeria.

   Ethiopia, one of four founder members of the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) in 1956, featured in the first seven Cup of Nations up to
1970, but this will be only the fourth appearance since.

   Abate has developed a team captained by veteran forward Getaneh Kebede
that favours one-touch football and single-goal losses away to Ghana and
South Africa in World Cup qualifying offered encouragement.

   The second lowest ranked team in the tournament were the first to arrive
in Cameroon and will probably be among the first to depart.

   AFP predicts: 1. Cameroon, 2. Burkina Faso, 3. Cape Verde, 4. Ethiopia