It’s been a circuitious and definitely dramatic route to this year’s edition of the African Cup of Nations. It’s the 30th edition of the event having been staged since 1957 and held every two years since then.
The original hosts of the African Cup Of Nations, Morocco, pulled out of hosting the event two months ago amid fears of the fear of the spread of the Ebola virus.
Equatorial Guinea promptly stepped in to save the day- or not? There have been mounting concerns as to Equatorial’s Guinea’s concerns to stage the games especially in terms of infrastructure and accommodation for the visiting teams.
The coaches of Congo as well as Burkina Faso have decried the lack of accommodation for their players and also the facilities on ground.
Sixteen teams are competing for the AFCON crown and the clearest favorites to win the event are thought to be Algeria and Ivory Coast after the failure of Former Champions Nigeria to qualify for the event. AFCON veterans and record winners, Egypt, are also missing from this year’s event.
South Africa could also prove to be this year’s surprise package as they’ve experienced a resurgence under current coach Shakes Masheba. Would the dark horse triumph?
The first encounter of the 32 matches that will be played throughout the competition kicks off at 4 p.m today.
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