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Players like Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and his brother Kolo, Gervinho, all from Ivory Coast, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, Mali’s Seidou Keita and Flavio of Angola have distinguished themselves as influential members of their clubs and countries, and their appearance in the Nations Cup will light up the venues.
Aside the established stars, younger talents like Senegalese Demba Ba, Armand Traore and Remi Gomis, will be eager to seize the opportunity to shine on African soil. The Ayew brothers, Andre and Jordan, from Ghana, possess strength and skill and a blend with experienced members of the Black Stars could earn Ghana their sixth title. The last was won in 1982.
Group A
Hosts Equatorial Guinea have a difficult task of making it out of the Group A where they chase the two next round spots with Zambia, Senegal and Libya.
With their strong forward line of dreaded Demba Ba of Newcastle, Moussa Sow of Lille and former Freiburg striker Papiss Demba Cisse, who joined Newcastle on Wednesday, Senegal are clear favourites to win the group.
Before joining the Premier League club, 26-year-old Cisse scored nine goals and provided two assists for his former club and just as he is teaming up with Ba in England, the pair will surely create lots of problems for defenders. Equatorial Guinea have little football history and stopping a trio of strikers where Sow could be the arrowhead may be impossible.
Although they are yet to make names for themselves, former France under-21 international midfielder Cheikh Mbengue and defender Armand Traore also add quality to the Senegalese team.
For Zambia, a second place finish in the group will see them to the next round but the Southern African country can also be contenders for the first position.
In Angola 2010, they were the delight of the tournament, with their passing game and beautiful display that almost knocked Nigeria out in the quarterfinals but the penalty shootout.
They still have the Katongo brothers, Christopher and Felix, although the loss of Utrecht striker Jacob Mulenga and central midfielder Thomas Nyirenda through injury could undermine their progress.
Libya qualified for the competition in fairytale fashion. Despite their nation overtaken by civil war, they made the party ahead of Comoros and Mozambique. In Group A, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea may be unfamiliar foes to them, they can still rely on their 1-0 aggregate score against Zambia during the qualifiers.
Group B
The Elephants of Ivory Coast clearly have the advantage in group B where they confront Burkina Faso, Angola and Sudan.
But while Sudan game may look easy, Burkina Faso and Angola will have nothing to lose going all out against the star-studded Ivorian side.
Burkina Faso did well in the qualifiers, beating Gambia and Namibia to win the group while Angola beat Uganda, Guinea Bissau and Kenya in Group J.
Even though Angola find it tough playing smaller teams sometimes, they have the history of doing well against big teams, which was a feature that helped them beat Nigeria to the World Cup in 2006. They played in the 2006 World Cup and reached the quarterfinals of the Nations Cup in 2008 and 2010 which the hosted. Former Manchester United striker, Manucho, who is now with Valladolid, and Djalma Campos, who joined Porto recently are the drive behind the team now although veteran Flavio helps with experience.
Group C
Co-hosts Gabon have the home advantage behind them but if what they achieved in the last edition in Angola is to play any role in their preparation this term, Gabon may just surprise anyone.
They beat Cameroon the last term and had the same four points with Zambia and the Indomitable Lions, only to miss the train to the next round on goals scored.
They also drew with Tunisia at the time so having them in the same group again does not present a panic. Niger, also in the group, but it’s their first time out and will be content with beating Egypt and South Africa to reach the finals. It leaves the fight for the first two places to the co-hosts, Tunisia and Morocco.
Group D
Ghana will be desperate to win the title for the sixth time after their last triumph in 1982.
With Guinea, Botswana and Mali as group opponents, the road to the next round is a bit far even though it looks as if the final is the Black Stars destination.
They have what it takes to be at the top right now, with a blend of experienced and young players, who dazzled so much at the last World Cup in South Africa.
Black Stars do not have Chelsea’s Michael Essien, who is out to injury, and Kevin Prince Boateng of AC Milan, who retired from national team, with them, but that will not reduce the team’s ability as they have in-form Asamoah Gyan and the Ayew brothers.
But so much has also been said about the absence of Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon, with 13 titles among them, than the teams competing for the title.
At the venues, fans across Africa and beyond will not see Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o on parade and the striker will not be able to add to his 18 goals at the competition. Fast improving Arsenal midfielder, Alex Song will not also have an opportunity to expand his Nations Cup experience.
Egypt won the last three editions with coach Hassan Sheatta, using a cream of modest but highly efficient players like Ahmed Hassan, Mohammed Aboutrika, Mohammed Zidan and goalkeeper Essam El Hadary.
For Nigeria, it’s actually hard to pick the stars who will be the biggest losers but players like Osaze Odemwingie, Mikel Obi, Ikechukwu Uche, Ahmed Musa and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama lose another opportunity to impress Nigerians who are yet to be convinced that football still resides in the country.
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