For the flops at the ongoing competition, it is hard to start anywhere else than from the now-disgraced and sent home defending champions, Desert Warriors of Algeria.
With their immense technical talent, the North Africans’ 35-game undefeated streak was expected to go the distance and potentially even become the first team since 2010 to retain the title.
Ultimately, their campaign was a disaster, ‘total failure’, according to their Head coach Djamel Belmadi. The Fennecs exited the tournament with just one point and one goal scored in over 270 minutes of play.
Indeed, rarely have reigning champs come crashing down to earth so quickly in the continental championship.
Ghana’s Black Stars
Following closely behind Algeria are Black Stars of Ghana who, despite not having the success of the North Africans in recent years, still came to the tournament amid talk of ending their 40-year wait for the Nations Cup title.
Needless to say, the Ghanaians did not come to the party as expected by football pundits. The Black Stars woefully underperformed in Cameroon, taking just one point from their three matches.
Their misery included a disconsolate defeat by tiny Comoros and sullying their proud name with their antics at the conclusion of their game against Gabon.
For his tournament of intoxicating highs and bitter lows, Skipper Andre Ayew could have had a while entry in this list just to himself.
Pharaohs Of Egypt
Unlike Algeria and Ghana, the Pharaohs of Egypt have snuck into the round of 16. However, an argument could be made that had they been in either the Desert Warriors’ or the Black Stars’ groups things might have been very different.
They were outplayed by Nigeria in their opener, fortunate that Guinea-Bissau’s late equaliser was disallowed in their second match, and then laboured past a limited Sudanese side in their final game of Group D.
The Pharaohs’ over-reliance on Mohamed Salah is not getting the best out of the Liverpool point man, and they need to improve dramatically if they’re to advance past Ivory Coast in the last 16 rounds of the competition.
Senegal
Tipped as one of the genuine contenders for the Nations Cup, Senegal’s Teranga Lions have grown dramatically under Aliou Cisse, reaching the World Cup in 2018 and the AFCON final a year later.
Their natural progression, and the quality of Sadio Mane, should take them to the latter stages of the competition, and they demonstrated in the World Cup qualifiers that they can find a cutting edge to see off some of Africa’s lesser sides without too much difficulty.
However, they have struggled to get going at this tournament, only breaking down Zimbabwe at the death, being held by Guinea, and then drawing with lowly Malawi in their final group game.
Many are concerned that the Senegalese have shown none of the ferocity in the attack that some of their rivals have, despite being in one of the easier groups, and their performances must improve if they are going to realise their title credentials.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
The saga of the opening week of the Nations Cup focused on whether or not Gabon skipper Aubameyang would be able to join the Panthers’ party after testing positive for coronavirus upon his arrival in Cameroon.
At first, he was out, then, before the Ghana game, he tested negative and was set to return, only for CAF doctors and Gabon’s medical officials to prevent him from returning after tests suggested the virus had left residues in his system.
Both the Arsenal forward and Mario Lemina were eventually released to return to their club sides ahead of the Central Africans’ final group game against Morocco, and yet another tournament has passed by Auba, one of the great goalscorers of his generation.
