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Africa Cup: Crowded field jostling to dethrone Senegal

Published:Tuesday | January 9, 2024 | 12:09 AM
Senegal’s Sadio Mane before the start of the African Cup of Nations 2022 final match between Senegal and Egypt at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, on February 6, 2022.
AP
Senegal’s Sadio Mane before the start of the African Cup of Nations 2022 final match between Senegal and Egypt at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, on February 6, 2022.

ABIDJAN (AP):

Even for a tournament that is always unpredictable, there is an unusually large number of title contenders looking to dethrone Sadio Mané’s Senegal when the latest edition of the Africa Cup of Nations starts Saturday.

Morocco are looking to build on their unprecedented World Cup success after becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals. Seven-time champions Egypt will hope Mohammed Salah can help the team go one better after losing the 2021 Africa Cup final on penalties. Nigeria have African player of the year Victor Osimhen, Ghana is led by Mohammed Kudus as they go for their fifth title, and Cote d’Ivoire can count on strong home support.

“This competition will be one of the strongest since I started playing in it, because all the big countries are here,” said Mané, who scored the winning penalty for Senegal in the final win over Egypt in 2021.

The 34th edition of the biennial tournament was supposed to be played in June and July last year but was postponed to avoid Cote d’Ivoire’s tropical rainy season.

That means it is once again being played in the middle of the European league season, forcing many top clubs to be without some of their best players for up to a month.

Napoli will have to do without Osimhen, Liverpool without Salah, and German league leaders Bayer Leverkusen will be without four players – Victor Boniface (Nigeria), Amine Adli (Morocco), Odilon Kossounou (Cote d’Ivoire) and Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) – potentially undermining their bid to pip Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title.

Safety will again be an issue after eight people were killed and 38 injured in a stadium crush at the last edition in Cameroon.

The 24-team tournament will feature six groups, with games spread across six stadiums in five cities, with the final to be played at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on February 12. The top two in each group and the four best third-placed teams will progress to the knockout stage.

Here is a look at the six groups

GROUP A: Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau

GROUP B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, Mozambique

GROUP C: Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, Gambia

GROUP D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola

GROUP E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia

GROUP F: Morocco, Congo, Zambia, Tanzania