ACN Update: Cameroon upset, GK Errors Abound

The African Cup of Nations has already provided several shock results despite starting just a few days ago. Wednesday's play has added another to that total, as Gabon have knocked off World Cup qualifiers Cameroon. Just 17 minutes in, Daniel Cousin, one of Jozy Altidore's teammates at Hull City, took a short through ball and broke into the box all alone before firing a low shot into the far corner beyond the reach of Carlos Kameni. His goal would prove to be the difference in the match, as Gabon knocked off Samuel Eto'o and company by a score of 1-0.

In the 6 matches that have been played to this point (at the time of writing), teams that have qualified for next summer's World Cup are winless, with three losses and one draw. As previously discussed earlier in the week, Algeria fell to Malawi in a game that was both embarrassing and stunning. On Monday, Didier Drogba and Cote d'Ivoire, a team being tabbed by some as having a legitimate chance to win the World Cup, were held to a scoreless draw by Burkina Faso. The next day, Nigeria fell to Egypt by a score of 3-1, followed by today's aforementioned Gabon-Cameroon surprise result.

Nigeria's loss was not exactly an upset, given that Egypt narrowly missed out on the World Cup and are the two-time defending ACN champions, but it still contributes nonetheless to a fairly surprising trend of World Cup qualifiers doing poorly in this year's tournament. However, although it defies what we might expect, it goes along with what happened back in 2006, when only 2 of 5 World Cup qualifiers advanced to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations. The tournament is still young, but keep an eye on how these teams fare over the next couple weeks. While a lot can change in six months, I've got to believe that a poor showing will not have a positive psychological on these teams as the World Cup draws closer.

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Another noticeable trend over the course of the tournament's opening games has been the propensity of goalkeepers to make game-altering errors. Coming back to the Nigeria-Egypt match, the Super Eagles lost their early 1-0 lead thanks to an overzealous effort from GK Vincent Enyeama, who came up empty on a slide tackle 25 yards from goal, leaving Emad Moteab with an empty net to shoot at. The goal would prove to be the turning point in a match that Nigeria would go on to lose.

The Benin-Mozambique match was littered with so many displays of poor goalkeeping, that even this comically bad sequence was not the worst of the day:



Benin lost a crucial pair of points thanks to a couple of errors from their GK, Yoann Djidonou. In the first half, he missed on a hopeful attempt to punch a corner that was 10 yards out from goal, leading to an easy header into an empty net. Later, in the second half, Djidonou was on the sideline making a clearance, only to find himself chasing the play when a quick Mozambique throw beat him to the area, once again allowing for a finish into an unprotected goal. These miscues squandered an early 2-0 lead, with the final result being a 2-2 draw.

And let's not forget Algeria's goalkeeping woes in their 3-0 loss to Malawi. We won't go into it again, but it suffices to say that Malawi's upset victory had a lot to do with errors from Faouzi Chaouchi.

So, USMNT fans, as debates continue about Troy Perkins, Marcus Hahnemann, and Brad Guzan in regards to the goalkeeping depth chart, remember to be thankful that the US has such a quality pool of keepers to choose from. It certainly beats a lot of what some teams in the Africa Cup of Nations have been putting forward over the past couple of days.