AFCON 2013: PLAYERS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE LIST!!!

While Ivory Coast captain Drogba and the Toure brothers Kolo and Yaya and company head for South Africa, the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse are missing out, forced to watch the action on television.

Ba and Cisse failed to join the party when Senegal were kicked out of the 2013 tournament by organisers CAF as punishment for crowd trouble which flared up at the qualifier against Drogba’s Ivorians.

Senegal’s disqualification must have been greeted with quiet relief, though, at the pair’s respective Premier League clubs.

While sorry to see Ba head to London, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew still has a Senegalese ace up his sleeve in the shape of Cisse.

While the Africa Cup showcases the cream of the continent’s abundant talent, joining Ba and Cisse on the absentee list is one of Africa’s biggest names in the shape of Eto’o.

With three World Cups and six Nations Cups under his belt, the Cameroon captain and his team will be sorely missed.

Cameroon’s shock defeat to Cape Verde in the qualifier also robs the 2013 Nations Cup of talented midfielder Alex Song, who moved to Barcelona from Arsenal last August.

As in 2012, the former continental kings Egypt have once again been excluded from the feast of African football.

The Pharaohs have suffered a startling dip in fortune since rattling off three consecutive titles in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

 

Their bid to qualify for 2013, against the sombre backdrop of the Port Said stadium disaster in February which cost the lives of 74 people, came to a premature end with a first round 4-3 defeat to the Central African Republic.

Their absence deprives the Nations Cup of such Egyptian luminaries as goalkeeper Esaam al Hadary, defender Wael Gomaa and midfielder Mohamed Abou Trika.

Of the teams who qualified, Ghana will have to do without the services of Marseille’s star midfielder Andrew Ayew and striker Yahaya Mohamed, who are both injured.

Morocco’s Queens Park Rangers’ midfielder Adel Taarabt, Arsenal’s striker Marouane Chamakh, on loan to West Ham, and Qatar-based midfielder Houssine Kharja all failed to make the Atlas Lions’ squad.

Hosts South Africa must do without retired midfielder Steven Pienaar, Mali’s Mahamadou Diarra is injured, while Nigerian duo Danny Shittu and Shola Ameobi declined their country’s call.