NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGE; TOTAL AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS.

Let me now join my voice with the millions of gleeful ones all over the world to wish you a Happy new year. Yes, welcome to 2017, a great year indeed and in the world of sports, it is a very pregnant one. The year that precedes the FIFA World Cup to be staged in Russia, it holds pretty much. On the African Continent though, we shall kick off with the Total African Cup of Nations billed to go down in Gabon and which would kick off on January 15. The 31^st edition which commemorates 60 long years of the operation of The Confederation of African Football on the continent, is an interesting one to look up to.

Sadly, Nigeria shall sit out for a second championship running. However, we shall welcome back the record title winners; the Pharoahs of Egypt, who are also returning from a long exile themselves. Since winning the trophy in 2010 at Angola , they have sat out three consecutive finals. Hector Cuper has come along and has jolted the North Africans awake from the rumbles political unrest and the exodus of the golden generation had effected on the team. With the likes of Mohammed Salah of AS Roma and Arsenal’s Mohammed Elneny, they have a strong team to jostle with in Gabon.

All the talk would be about who would be favourites to pick up the highly coveted trophy. Algeria for some time now have been in absolute dominance on the field with arguably the best crop of players at the moment. The likes of Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez, who recently bagged the African Player of the Year award, and other stars like; Yacine Brahimi, Islam Slimani, Nabil Bentaleb and Sofiane Fegoulhi among others, are going to be a hand full for most teams in Gabon. Although some managerial changes have been effected, with Georges Leekens returning to the bench, I fail to see a stronger side in this tournament and they are hot favourites to win a first AFCON title since 1990.  Also, Cote d’ivoire who are the holders, would be out for a respectable title defence, only that, four time African Player of the Year winner, Yaya Toure has retired. The team is strong though and Michel Dussuyer  would be out to defend the trophy.

I look for the dark horses and I want to call Egypt. This should shock. After missing the last three finals, it would be a tough ask to expect the rebuilding pharaohs to go all the way. However, I have been impressed by their performances since Hector Cuper came in and they have been impressive and difficult to beat. They must not be underrated. They would engage Ghana, Mali and Uganda in group D for a place in the quarter finals, and candidly, I tip them to qualify ahead of Ghana or Uganda. Another team that may cause a shocker is Morocco. The North African nation fell out with the powers that be when they rescinded their decision to host the 2015 edition that had already been granted to them, which prompted CAF to place a ban on the Atlas lions as they scrambled to get a new host which they did in Equatorial Guinea. Morocco however, have returned and are in possession of the current winning coach in Herve Renard. The Frenchman has carved a niche of some sort for himself in African Football. He has led Zambia and Cote d’ivoire to the podium in his first time of asking in 2012 and 2015 respectively and it remains to be seen if he can do same with Morocco.

Players to watch out for is another exciting part of the tourney. A lot of top talents all over the continent and the ones based in diaspora would converge to create a wonderful atmosphere of the celebration of Africa’s finest in Gabon. Players like Pierre Emeric Aubameyang, would carry the hopes of host Gabon on his broad shoulders. For Senegal, they would hope that Liverpool’s Sadio Mane has travelled down with his tricky feet while we can be sure to see a total mix of top talent in the Algerian team. In short, the finals would not be lacking in talent, drama and suspense.

On a final note, I want to enjoin all Africans to sit back and enjoy the celebration of our football as the appetizer to many other eventful occurrences still to come. You are welcome.