African Nations Cup

This Sunday is the start of the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, actually this year called the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons. It is scheduled to take place between 10th and 31st January 2010 in Angola.

Angola is desperately trying to restore normality to their society after decades of civil strife and also attempting to, on the back of their massive oil wealth, establish themselves as new economic power in Africa.

It is claimed the country has spent $1 billion preparing infrastructure for the tournament, including four new stadiums, hotels and roads but some stadiums only officially opened last week and will not have been properly tested before they are used in the tournament for the first time from Sunday.

The pitch conditions, in particular, I expect will be pretty shitty and the from the little I have read you might find better facilities at The Withdean than in and around the stadiums of Angola. I think the Confederation of African Football are very brave but it has long had a policy of encouraging new countries to bid to host the Nations Cup. The rationale is that the tournament forces governments to build sports infrastructure they ordinarily would not commit a budget to.

Countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali have recent stadiums now because of the Nations Cup and the next finals, to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, will see much needed venues built in those countries as well.

For all the potential of its oil wealth, Angola is still a shattered land, stripped of almost all its infrastructure and with very few real services for its citizen. The money for the football tournament surely could have been better spent elsewhere but you will find few dissenters among its populace, who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the continent's top stars (for those of you worried about your N&R team, then click here).

If I can via American television, I wouldn't mind watching some of the games. You just know it will be an attacking feast of football. Here are the planned 1st Round matches.

There are 4 groups of 4, with the top two qualifying for the Quarters. The final is in Luanda on Sunday 31st. Luanda is the capital and the world's most expensive city to live in?!

Egypt are the defending champions but likely a little shell shocked after missing out on the World Cup finals, beaten in qualifying play-off by Algeria. It means they could arrive in Angola flat and demoralised or filled with the extra motivation to make up for their recent disappointment.

Angola are likely to ride a wave of home town expectation and Algeria, Ghana, the Ivorians, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon and Tunisia are all well favoured with Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire looking the most formidable of the teams. Enjoy.