The Ivorians‚ who have to do without retired Yaya Toure and injured Gervinho but have been boosted by the defection of Wilfried Zaha‚ played through an indifferent 2016 but seem to come good towards the end of the year and will be rightly considered a good bet to retain their title.
If they come through the first round their hopes will be strengthen because Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among the dangerous outsiders at the tournament.
And Togo‚ who have the Godfather of the African Nations Cup in charge‚ can be expected to seek to play a spoilers’ role.
Claude Le Roy continue to set a record for longevity at the event and is coaching at a ninth finals.
In his previous eight tournaments‚ only once did he not get a side through to the last eight — that was when he was with DR Congo in South Africa in 2013 and they were inched out of second place in their group by the minnows from the Cape Verde Island.
Togo can play that role in Group C‚ which is based at a new stadium in Oyem‚ with Emanuel Adebayor leading their attack.
He might be on the wrong side of 30 and short of match fitness‚ but is still one of the continent’s top players and will be eager to prove a point.
DR Congo were nominated by the Confederation of African Football as one of the candidates for the National Team of the Year award for 2016 on the back of not only qualifying in top place in their Nations Cup qualifying group but also putting together a 100 percent start to the group phase of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Florent Ibenge has assembled a strong group and after bronze at the last Nations Cup finals they will have high hopes of reaching the knockout phase again.
But they will need to also get past the Moroccans‚ who again have a highly talented squad on paper even if they surprisingly left out Hakim Ziyech of Ajax Amsterdam from their 23-man squad.
He is rated one of the best talents in Europe but Morocco coach Herve Renard said he could not guarantee him a starting line-up berth and it would not work well to have him mopping around on the bench.
Since then‚ there have been several injuries to key players with Younes Belhanda and Sofiane Boufal likely to be sorely missed and Ziyech might yet be drafted into the squad as a late injury replacement.
Morocco have invested heavily in enticing Renard to take over as their coach‚ hoping his Nations Cup magic can rub off on them.
The suave Frenchman took Zambia to the 2012 title in Libreville and the Ivory Coast to success in the last edition in Equatorial Guinea.
- TMG Digital
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