Gabon face pressure at home as North African derby looms

Equatorial Guinea’s surprise 1-0 win over Libya in their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations opening match on Saturday night in Bata was seen by many here as an undue pressure to their co-hosts Gabon, who play Niger on Monday at the Stade d’Angondje from 5pm local time (7pm Kenyan time).

In the second match of the day at 8pm local time (10pm Kenyan time), Morocco will face Tunisia.

But it is the first match that has seen the hosts bestowed with carrying a growing burden of expectation by the trophy-hungry Gabonese.

And their top player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, knows it just too well.

“It is a great honour for us to play at home in such a high-profile tournament. Of course, there is always pressure while playing at home,” noted the 22-year-old striker after their team’s training session at the Libreville National Stadium on Saturday evening.

“Every team has equal chances of lifting the trophy but it would be a plus for us to win it at home.”

A victory of whatever margin over the West Africans will certainly add to the frenzy that has been swelling since Gabon qualified for this year’s London Games following a surprise win at the recent African Olympic qualifiers in Morocco.

Already, five of the Under-23 squad members have been incorporated in the senior team for their Nations Cup campaign.

It was that win that has suddenly put them on the pedestal for a chance to play in the February 12 final.

To many Gabonese here, the Cup of Nations, in addition to being the only leading sporting event in the continent, is the only competition capable of providing the full range of human emotion: Anger, awe, boredom, depression, disgust, embarrassment, euphoria, frustration, guilt, misery, pride, rage and surprise.

The best screenwriters couldn’t script some of those things.

“The Olympic success has come as a major psychological boost for us, even though we lack the adequate experience compared to the other big teams,” said the team’s first-choice goalkeeper, Didier Ovono Ebang, also a custodian at Le Mans FC in the French league.

“It will also be a good birthday present for me as I turn 29 on Monday.”

In tough group

As hosts, Gabon were exempted from the qualifiers and had to make do with a variety of friendly matches, thus denying them the much needed true measure of form that normally comes with such matches.

Which means the services of French club Saint-Etienne’s forward Aubameyang, burly former Hull City forward Daniel Michel Cousin and Etienne Alain Djissikadie of TP Mazembe will certainly come in handy.

South Africa’s laughable thoughtlessness in their final qualifier aptly gifted Niger with a chance to debut at this level, albeit in a tough Group C that also has the North African axis of Morocco and Tunisia.

“The simple fact that we qualified for the tournament is a true testament that Niger’s football is growing and we have a good team that can do us proud, despite being underdogs,” said head coach Rolland Courbis.