World Soccer: 2008 African Nations Cup

The 16 finalists for the competition which will be played in Ghana early next year are now known.

The year after each country is the last time they played in a Finals competition.

Angola (2006)
Benin (2004)
Cameroon (2006)
Cote D'Ivoire (2006)
Egypt (2006)
Ghana (2006)
Guinea (2006)
Mali (2004)
Morocco (2006)
Namibia (1998)
Nigeria (2006)
Senegal (2006)
South Africa (2006)
Sudan (1976)
Tunisia (2006)
Zambia (2006)

So - 12 of the teams that will play in Ghana also played in Egypt in 2006 and two more last played in the previous tournament in Tunisia in 2004.

So the biggest "surprises" are Namibia - who finished again of Congo-Kinshasa in Group 10 to qualify for the first time since 1998 & Sudan - who finished ahead of Tunisia (who still qualify as one of the best runners-up) in Group 4. This is the first time Sudan have made the finals since 1976.

Given that Al-Hilal (Omdurman) also reached the CAF Champions League Semi-Finals (losing narrowly to Etoile Sahel) there would appear to be a "decent vintage" of Sudanese Footballer at the moment.

Most of the big names will be in Ghana. In African terms the biggest omission is probably Congo-Kinshasa (who have appeared in the last 8 Finals competitions (a sequence only bettered by Egypt). Otherwise Algeria are missing for the second tournament in a row. And of course Togo (nearly forgot) who played in Germany missed out after finishing third behind Mali & Benin. Their home defeat to Mali at the weekend is also being investigated following crowd trouble after the game.

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