Last year, Zambia (with their jean-wearing French coach Here Renard, screaming audible instructions from the sidelines) won the cup for the first time in a nail-baiting penalty shoot-out against overwhelming favourites Ivory Coast. What made the victory though, wasn't Zambia's last-ditch defending or Gervihno's penalty miss, before Stopilla Sunzu (who has just recently signed for Reading) hit the winner, it was the fact that Zambia's 1993 squad were killed in a plane crash, a sort distance away from the stadium in Libreville in Gabon. Incredibly, the 1994 tournament in Tunisia saw a hastily-picked Zambian team reach the final under the management of Sunderland's 1973 FA Cup hero, Ian Porterfield, but despite taking the lead in the 3rd minute, their opponents, Nigeria, went on to win 2-1. Considering, with all due respect, that this was basically a Zambian reserve team, imagine what could have happened if those players hadn't have perished in that plane crash? Watching the footage of the team celebrating that win in 2012, you could see on the players faces how much this game meant to them, it's a story that shows the true drama of football and how it can mean so much to people.
Due to recent troubles in Libya, this edition of the tournament has been swapped with the one that was due to take place in South Africa in 2017 and I think it'll be intriguing to see how the country's football infrastructure has change since hosting the 2010 World Cup. Organisers are hoping for bigger crowds, which has proved to be a problem in the past, due in no small part to the expense and the sheer travel involved. Otherwise, the stadiums are in great condition and football seems to be as popular as ever in South Africa. They are up against tournament debutants, Cape Verde (who could provide another great story) in the opening game today, which will be worth a watch.
The tournament isn't without it's critics though, with Europeans moaning about the fact that the cup is played in January, meaning that the clubs lose their players for a couple of a months. I think it's incredibly arrogant for people to start playing the 'superiority card' (because that's what it is) by saying the tournament needs to be played in summer. Personally I've never been to Africa, but I'd imagine that large parts of it are extremely hot during the summer months and playing a very intensive football tournament may not be the best pursuit to partake in. If heat isn't your bag, then maybe the cup could played in torrential rain and thunderstorms during the wet season in Central and Western Africa? Sadly, football has fallen victim to selfish society, with clubs and their fans who believe because they pay an exorbitant amount of money to a young man who grew up in Africa, that they own this person and he's got no right in representing his country. Ask the Zambia players if they'll rather stay in Europe and collect their wages, instead of playing for the honour of their country - you don't need to be Sherlock Hound to work out the answer. International football used to be the ultimate honour for a player, whereas today it's solely about the money and pride in playing for your country has disappeared. It's what we Europeans are missing, not just in football, but possibly in life too and that pride is what makes the African Nations Cup a great tournament to watch.
As for the teams to watch, many aren't looking past the Ivorians, but seeing as they've only actually won the cup once and their 'golden generation' starting to show the signs of age (sound familiar?), it won't be too much of a surprise not to see them win the trophy. Ghana are always a decent outside bet and Nigeria, who have had an awful couple of years, resulting in their government banning the football team from playing competitive matches for two years, would want to put up a good show on their return. Former Latics winger Victor Moses could prove to be a key man. Hosts South Africa could be a decent outside bet, they've improved as a side since the World Cup and being at home, they too would want to put up a good show. Last year's winners Zambia shouldn't be discounted too, especially with the amount of young players they have coming through. And their coach, the previously-mentioned Herve Renard, is always worth a watch, just to see him shout at his players! It's normally the games you don't expect to be good, to be good, so I think it's well worth dipping into the group stages at some point, who knows? You may see the next African star to be exploited by a European side! The Northern African teams, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, are relative outside bets but games involving these teams are normally interesting to watch as they contain mostly European-based players (moan, moan, moan), so the clash of styles is very prevalent when they come up against other African sides.
With UEFA possibly ruining the European Championship by expanding, then having it being played all over Europe (or more likely, in the richest countries) AFCON is a great alternative and could be viewed as a throwback to football tournaments as they used to be. But best of all - it's different. Imagine if everything was the same, ran by the same people and the same wallets. It'll be rubbish, won't it?
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