With the winners of the past two Africa Cup of Nations having arguably their best crop of players ever heading into those tournaments, a compelling argument can be made that a participating nation needs to have a golden generation in order to win the competition.
Those two AFCONs were won by Algeria in 2019 and Senegal in 2021, although the latter edition was only hosted last year due to its postponement because of COVID-19. With the group-stage draw having been completed last week, all teams now know their opponents for the first round, and Morocco have been tipped as one of the early favourites to clinch the trophy. The Atlas Lions are currently the top-ranked CAF nation, while FIFA also ranks them as the 13th best national team on the planet following a historic fourth-place finish at the 2022 FIFA World Cup – the highest finish by an African side at the prestigious tournament.
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Reacting to the draw, Morocco boss Walid Regragui distanced himself from suggestions that his team are favourites, claiming the honour could be won by any team, including South Africa. "In the AFCON today, every team can win this tournament. And this also includes South Africa, when we were recently in Johannesburg, we lost to Bafana Bafana," the 48-year-old said. "Now, there are no easy games in Africa, all the teams are stronger, for us as Morocco, we will try to do our best just like in the World Cup to win this competition. But I still maintain that a number of teams are still dark horses to win this AFCON tournament."
However, recent history shows that it often takes a special generation of players to win the AFCON title. In 2019, the event was staged in Egypt and featured 24 teams for the first time after its expansion from 16 participants. Algeria were crowned the champions that year, after the side had begun a new era under coach Djamel Belmadi. Following their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Desert Foxes picked a strong squad for the AFCON, arguably their best ever, with the group inspired by the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Ismael Bennacer, Ramy Bensebaini, Youcef Atal, Djamal Benlamri, Youcef Belaili, and Yacine Brahimi, who were all based overseas at the time. The team certainly proved to be one of their best-ever generations as they went on to win their first-ever AFCON title and then went on a 16-game unbeaten run that year, which pushed them a record 34 places up the FIFA rankings. Only two players were based in Africa in that AFCON-winning team for the north Africans.
The most recent AFCON was won by a strong Senegal team led by talisman Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ismaila Sarr, Idrissa Gueye and Abdou Diallo, all of whom had established themselves at big clubs in Europe, including Liverpool, Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain. Having finished runners-up in 2019, Aliou Cisse guided the Lions of Teranga to their maiden AFCON title in Cameroon, with many considering that group as their first golden generation since the 2002 World Cup team that reached the quarter-finals in Japan and South Korea, during which they beat then-reigning world champions France.
It is therefore more than reasonable to assume that Morocco could indeed go all the way in January and February 2024 in the Ivory Coast, despite Regragui downplaying their chances of winning it. Their current playing group comprises the likes of Yassine Bounou, Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri, Nayef Aguerd and arguably the best right-back in the world, Achraf Hakimi. On paper, they are the strongest team, and recent history shows that the best players often inspire their nations to success at the tournament.
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