Experienced Côte d’Ivoire striker, Salomon Ya Konan Kalou, has listed Nigeria among the favourites to lift the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa.
The former Chelsea star, who spoke on Monday, believes that despite Nigeria’s absence in the last edition, the Super Eagles are among the favourites for the title.
Kalou said: “Amongst the teams that are going to compete in this AFCON, we respect everybody because this competition has always sprung so many surprises.
“We saw Zambia last year.
“Now there are favourites like Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa who will be playing at home.”
Kalou, who joined Lille this summer from Chelsea, however predicted that the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire will live up to expectations of soccer pundits in South Africa.
He said: “Algeria, Tunisia and Togo are good teams, but I think that the team to beat will be Côte d’Ivoire.
“We are the team to beat in this group.
“It is true that this is a competition that we want to win together, but at the same time it is a very difficult competition to win.
“We are up against very strong teams and each one is bent on beating Côte d’Ivoire,”
The Lille of France striker is confident that his country has what it takes to erase the sad memories of loosing the final match to Zambia in the last edition.
He said: “My worst AFCON is also my best, and that is last year’s.
“It was my worst because we lost in the final, but my best because it was my first AFCON final.
“But I only want to remember the positive.
“We went into the final without having conceded a goal and really, we were a solid team.
“The Côte d’Ivoire team, we’re a team of friends.”
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