January 21st - the day, when the football world will be richer for another big-stage-tournament. This time it's Africa's turn. African cup of nations 2012. The cup, which pisses off the managers and owners of the richest European clubs, who have to let their African internationals go for a month or so, and entertains all the others with colourful fans, singing and 'vuvuzeling' on the stands, and (still in many ways) naive - but great to watch - football.
Sixteen teams, hopefully (remember Angola 2010, when Togo withdrew from the tournament because of the terrorist attack?), will try to impress fans worldwide. But not only fans. Even the scouts of practically every club in Europe will be watching attentively, like a predator's watching its prey.
Namely, Africa's given a lot of talent to the world of the most popular round ball. Roger Milla, Nwankwo Kanu, Tony Yeboah, Abedi Pele, George Weah, Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Benni McCarthy... just to name a few. Not to mention Eusebio who was born in (at that time Portuguese) Mozambique.
This time the best footballing teams in the black continent will meet in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The host cities are Libreville (Stade d'Angondje, capacity 40,000) & Franceville (Stade de Franceville, 35,000) in Gabon and Bata (Estadio de Bata, 35,700) & Malabo (Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, 15,250) in Equatorial Guinea.
Group A consists of Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal and Zambia. The co-hosts will rely on the Brazilian keeper Danilo, Libya's main asset is midfielder Djamal Mahamat of Braga, Mohamed Mounir, who plays for Serbian outfit Jagodina, is waiting for his debut. Senegal, with striking force in the form of Demba Ba, Papiss Demba Cisse & Moussa Sow, and Zambia (they will be missing striker Jacob Mulenga) with Kennedy Mweene, Joseph Musonda, captain Christopher Katongo, Emmanuel Mayuka and teenager Evans Kangwa are the favourites to go through.
In Group B there are Ivory Coast, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Angola. The team of the group? Oh, come on. There is no need for further explanation, when they have the likes of Yaya Toure, Cheikh Tiote, Didi Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Seydou Doumbia, Gervinho etc. in their lineup. Yes, the Elephants. The other three will battle for the 2nd spot, with Sudan (their talents? Mahjoub El Moez, Saif Eldin Ali, Haitham Mustafa, Mudather Eltaib) considered the weakest. Bakary Kone is the one to watch in Burkina Faso shirt, Moumouni Dagano is their best striker. Djalma and Mateus are Angola's attacking threat.
Gabon, Niger, Morocco and Tunisia will be in Group C. Both north-african teams are the favourites for the two top spots: Morocco have a relatively strong squad, which includes Marouane Chamakh, Adel Taarabt and Mehdi Benatia, Tunisia's crown jewels are Karim Haggui and Issam Jemâa. Gabon will try to "surprise" with the attacking pair Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Eric Mouloungui. Daniel Cousin is another option. Gabon's key-player is Seidou Idrissa.
And finally, Group D. There are Ghana, Botswana, Mali and Guinea. Ghana are the clear favourites, Jordan Ayew, Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah, Emmanuel Badu, Sulley Muntari, Isaac Vorsah are just a few names that should bring success to The Black Stars. Mali with its captain Seydou Keita and his colleagues will challenge Guinea for the 2nd spot (their top scorer is a winger Pascal Feindouno). Botswana is a clear outsider.
The group stage will be played from 21st January to 1st February. The top two teams from each group progress to the quarterfinal (4th and 5th February). Semi-finals will be played on 8th February, a match for the 3rd place three days later, and a final will take place on 12th February in Libreville.
And my favourites for the title? If you want to bet on it - Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali...
The mascot for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is named Gaguie and is a gorilla sporting the national team colors of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The official match ball for the tournament, manufactured by Adidas, is the Comoequa. The name is inspired from the Como River which runs through the host nations, and the Equator.
P. S. Do you miss defending champions from Egypt? Or Togo? Or Nigeria? Or Cameroon? Well, you're right. They won't play in this edition of ACN. Why? It's simple. They didn't qualify.
Where to watch the games? Well, most of us, Europeans, will watch them on Eurosport.
All the ACN winners:
1957 Egypt
1959 Egypt
1962 Ethiopia
1963 Ghana
1965 Ghana
1968 Congo
1970 Sudan
1972 Congo
1974 Zair
1976 Morocco
1978 Ghana
1980 Nigeria
1982 Nigeria
1984 Cameroon
1986 Egypt
1988 Cameroon
1990 Algeria
1992 Ivory Coast
1994 Nigeria
1996 South Africa
1998 Egypt
2000 Cameroon
2002 Cameroon
2004 Tunisia
2006 Egypt
2008 Egypt
2010 Egypt
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