"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!"
This was the opening statement of ABC's sports program which ran on American tv for 37 years from 1961-1998. The show began as a fill-in show for a summer season. The goal of the show was to showcase sports from around the globe. With the success and popularity of cable television, the show was canceled. This is quite unfortunate, because on the eve of the 2012 African Cup of Nations Final from Libreville, Gabon, there is little coverage of this event.
Every two years African national football (soccer) teams meet to decide the African champion. This event is equivalent to the European Championships and the Copa America which are held every four years. The Africa Cup of Nations was first held in 1957. At that time there were only 3 participating nations; Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Today there are 16 teams who participate, meaning that there are qualifying rounds which take place between the championship years.
The 2012 event is being hosted in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. One of the initial surprises this year is that Nigeria, Cameroon, and Egypt did not qualify. Egypt holds the most titles with 7, while Cameroon and Nigeria have 4 and 2, respectively. With these three teams absent, expectations were high for Ivory Coast, and Ghana. The majority of the Ivory Coast team play in France and England for major clubs. The Ghana national football team also has many of its players playing in Europe. Both of these teams made it to the semi-finals, but only Ivory Coast will be in the final. Ghana lost to Zambia and will play Mali for third place.
Perhaps few people thought Zambia would make it to the final match. In 1993 all but one member of the Zambian national football team was killed in a tragic plane crash in Gabon on their way to a World Cup qualifying match in Senegal. Essentially, an entire generation of football was wiped out. The current team has gone to Gabon on a mission to bring home the trophy in memory of their former teammates. From the current squad representing Zambia in this tournament, there is only one player who is on a European team.
The final takes place on Sunday 12 February 2012. It will be a David and Goliath event. With the hopes of two nations riding on the shoulders of their teams. Ivory Coast recently hampered by a civil war after a presidential election and Zambia trying to restore the pride of their nation in the memory of their lost teammates will take to the field. It is too bad that the Wide World of Sports no longer exist to broadcast this event.
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