Absences leave 2012 Africa Cup of Nations wide open
This month'sis the most open tournament in years and as much about those that haven't made the finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon as about those who have.
The absence of , Cameroon and means that the trophy will have a different name on it for the first time in 20 years - unless Tunisia win it, that is.
The Carthage Eagles, who lifted the trophy on home soil in 2004, are the only team at the finals to have won the competition since the early 1990s. In 1992, this year's favourites, Ivory Coast, beat Ghana in a final played in Senegal - and these three countries headline the leading acts at this month's tournament.
The Senegalese are the first in action, playing in Saturday's opening round of Group A matches, meaning that Newcastle United fans won't have to wait long to catch a first glimpse of their - but whether the freescoring Papiss Demba Cisse starts against Zambia is open to question.
Born in Wimbledon, my enthusiasm for the global game was already sizeable before the tragic demise of the boys from SW19. Having covered football in over 50 countries, I've been working in the 91Èȱ¬'s African sports section since the early noughties, recently spending three years in Africa to report on the run-up to the continent's first World Cup.
