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The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will take centre stage in the New Year

Afcon takes New Year centre stage

Posted: 2011-12-31 09:53

The New Year is about to dawn and the much-awaited 28th edition of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will take centre stage during the month of January leading up to February 12 when new African champions will be crowned.  

The tournament has been described as an open one largely so because of the absence of some of the regular participants like Nigeria, Cameroon and defending champions Egypt. 
 
This scenario has left many not looking much further beyond Ivory Coast and Ghana for the winner.
 
Of course every tournament will have favourites and this brings with it expectations and a fair share of pressure something the other potential winners would be glad to avoid.
 
Outside of the two co-favourites lie some interesting sides that can glide underneath the radar and challenge for the honours. 
 
Senegal seems to have picked up at the right time and will bring with them some of the hottest striker in the game today.
 
Moussa Sow was top goal scorer in the French League last season and Demba Ba is currently second top goal scorer in the English Premiership with 14 goals while Dame N'Doye top scored for his club FC Copenhagen last season.
 
Issiar Dia, Papiss Demba Cisse and Souleymane Camara lethal goal getters are also included in the squad and add veteran striker Mamadou Niang who is still scoring for fun to that list and the Lions of Teranga boasts one of the best strike-force at the finals.
 
Then there is Guinea who brings an unbeaten record from the qualifiers into the finals. They chalked up four wins and two draws on the way to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
 
Tunisia will be keen to make the most of the opportunity to be at the finals, which was out of their hands come the last day of qualifiers.
 
The Carthage Eagles are the holders of the Chan title after a win in Sudan last February and coach Sami Trabelsi has the nucleus of that team still and the Tunisians will be bringing bags of confidence from what has been a successful footballing year for the country.
 
Esperance from Tunisia won the African Champions League and fellow club side Club Africain finished runners-up in the African Confederation Cup. Trabelsi has players from these two clubs amongst his charges for the Gabon and Equatorial Guinea finals.
 
Three sides will be making their maiden appearance at the finals. Host Equatorial Guinea will be keen to make an impression and go beyond group stage but with the latest set -back brought about by the resignation of team coach, Frenchman, Henri Michel it remains to be seen how the hosts will recover and mount a meaningful challenge. Botswana and Niger are the other debutants.
 
Ghana reached the final two years ago and further strengthened their credentials with a quarter-final exit at the 2010 Fifa World Cup. It is this kind of form that earns them co-favourites tag.
 
Ghanaian Andre Ayew was voted the BBC African Player of the Year by fans in a poll while Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast won the CAF Footballer of the Year award.
 
Both players will be among the leading stars for their sides as seek out to fulfil the expectations and replace Egypt as the new African champions come February 12. 
 
 

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Tolly.ba.Thathe : 2012-01-02 13:10

I might sound negative but the truth be told. According to my recollection most if not all the stars heading to the AFCON in the past editions have disappointed. One can quickly recall the likes of Samuel E'to, Didier Drogba, Steven Pienaar, Muntari, N****o Kanu, Adibayo, Odyimundge (apology for wrong spelling), and many more others. Of course their performances might have been affected by different reasons, be it injury caution, but the fact remains that they never set the tournament alight something that angers many soccer loving people because at the clubs they their best.

So my message to the so-called favourates, be it favourate players or teams, is to give us what the best as expected, please. Players must not afraid to give their best for their national teams because of fear of injuries going back to their respective clubs. We are also deserving of the best performance so much as the fans of their clubs get worth of what they paying for when they watch these African sons of the soil week in week out.