Burkina Faso Sports Minister: Nigeria Is No Longer A Strong Force

The draw for the 2013 Edition of the African Cup of Nations pitted Nigeria in Group C with West African brothers Burkina Faso. Both countries clash in Nelspruit, North East South Africa, on January 21.

The Burkina Faso Minister of Sports and Recreation, Colonel Yacouba Ouedraogo , is positive that the Stallions will progress from the group to the knockout rounds of the competition.

Assessing their opponents, Ouedraogo was quoted as saying by sidwaya.bf: ''Nigeria is no longer a strong force. Ethiopia is rising, Zambia, the defending champions, qualified hard. ''

FC Augsburg summer recruit, Aristide Bancé, also fancies the team's chances against Nigeria and Zambia, two of the favorites to qualify for the quarter - finals.

He told the newspaper: ''We learned from the past and we have our chance to get out of this group. There we must not overlook a team, especially Ethiopia.''

Speaking on the draw, the national coach Paul Put told sidwaya.bf: ''All groups are difficult insofar as it is a competition that brings together the 16 best teams in the continent. We already know Zambia and Nigeria. My concern remains the great unknown, Ethiopia. We will conduct research and prepare the team properly to achieve our goal in this competition which is to go as far as possible, or at least qualify to the next round.''