African Cup Of Nations 
/ Tobias Gourlay / 22 January 2012 / Leave a Comment 
German coach Gernot Rohr brings Gallic flair to the Gabon team
"Since 2003, 16 of Gabon’s 21 friendly and competitive wins have come with clean sheets"
Gabon are eminently capable of emulating their co-hosts, Equatorial Guinea, and starting their campaign with a win, says Tobias Gourlay
Monday 16:00 (Live on British Eurosport)
Gabon [1.66] Niger [6.8] draw [3.8]
Gabon
The Panthers have a French spine. Goalkeeper Didier Ovono plays for Le Mans, central defender Bruno Manga turns out for Lorient, midfielder Eric Mouloungui is with Nice and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leads the line for Saint-Etienne. Gernot Rohr, the coach, is German, but was managing Nantes before taking this job around 18 months ago.
As hosts, the team hasn't played a competitive match since its final group game of the last Cup of Nations, when it erroneously believed its draw with Cameroon had taken it to the last eight. No such luck, but Monday's game is an excellent opportunity to take three points and raise the prospect of at least a quarter-final place this time.
Niger
Harouna Doula Gabde's ambition for his charges is limited. And no wonder - the team is built around Moussa Maazou, a strapping striker who hasn't been in form since he left Lokeren in Belgium two-and-a-half years ago.
The Mena Stars begin their first-ever finals tournament playing away to one of the co-hosts. They lost all three of their away games in qualifying, failing even to score in any of them.
Fifa ranks the teams closely together - Gabon are 91 in the world, Niger 98 - but Niger's poor away form in qualifying and lack of tournament experience make Gabon odds-on favourites to start with a win.
Over/Under Goals
Since September 2010, 11 of Gabon's 13 friendlies have stayed Under 2.5 Goals, which is a [1.59] shot for this match. Their two matches in 2012 have both finished goalless, making it 6/13 Under 1.5 Goals, including a 1-0 win over Niger in France last year.
Niger didn't score a single goal away from home in 2011. Four matches ended in competitive defeats to Sierra Leone (0-1) and Egypt (0-3), and friendly setbacks against Morocco (0-3) and Gabon (0-1).
Since 2003, 16 of Gabon's 21 friendly and competitive wins have come with clean sheets, including 5/5 home wins in the last two years.
If you assume Gabon will win, the two teams' poor scoring records suggest 1-0 is the most likely scoreline. That's on offer at [6.4] in the Correct Score market, but if you want to cover the possibility of the hosts producing a more convincing performance, take the [2.5] about Gabon to Win to Nil.
Recommended Bet: Back Gabon Win to Nil @ [2.5]
*Follow Tobias on Twitter: @tobiasgourlay
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