Last eight eye African glory

Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon and Ghana will start likely favourites for the 2012 Caf Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals across central Africa this weekend.

The football feast begins on Saturday with two fixtures in Equatorial Guinea - Zambia and Sudan in the mainland port city of Bata, followed by the co-hosts against Côte d'Ivoire in the island capital Malabo.

Gabon stages both Sunday showdowns with the co-hosts playing Mali in the coastal capital Libreville, before Ghana tackle Tunisia in the south-eastern city of Franceville.

Ghana have won the biennial African football showpiece four times and Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan and Tunisia once, Zambia and Mali were runners-up, Gabon reached the last eight once before and Equatorial Guinea never.

While title co-favourites Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana are still on course for the 12 February final, Morocco and Senegal failed to match expectations that they would go far and were the biggest first-round casualties.

CO-HOSTS REVELLING IN SUCCESS

Equatorial Guinea provided the biggest surprise, defeating Libya and Senegal to secure a knockout place despite changing coaches less than three weeks before the tournament began, and lacking any big-name footballers.

Few pundits or bookmakers gave Sudan much chance either, but the Jediane Falcons have shown gradual improvement with a narrow loss to Côte d'Ivoire followed by a draw with Angola and a victory over Burkina Faso.

Gabon, whose only previous last-eight appearance came 16 years ago, are revelling in the fanatical support of the central African nation, led by President Ali Bongo and the First Lady.

Host nations have won two of the last four Cup of Nations tournaments and another finished third so Gabon going all the way and lifting the trophy is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

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