Africa: 2012 Cup of Nations Kicks Off! · Global Voices
Francois-Xavier Ada-Affana

[All links to external content are in French]
The Africa Cup of Nations began in Bata, Equatorial Guinea this Saturday January 21, 2012, kicking off three weeks of fierce competition. The Cup of Nations, the most important international football competition in Africa, is taking place in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea between January 21 and 12 February.
Supporters in Africa and around the world have been enjoying the build-up to the two opening matches; dancing, light and sound were all part of the spectacle:
GaGuie the Mascot! With GAGUIE : GA as in Gabon, GUI as in Guinea and E as in Equatorial! Image from fr.cafonline.com with permission
Here is a round up of the first three days of the tournament.
Matchday One
Libya took on Equatorial Guinea in the curtain raiser on 21 January, and it was co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, making their tournament debut, who took a surprise 1-0 win.
With just six minutes remaining, Balboa, the Equatorial Guinea number 11 finally opened the scoring after a one-on-one with the Libyan goalkeeper. The score stayed 1-0 until the final whistle, to the delight of the Equatorial Guinea fans who had packed the stadium.
The Senegalese fluffed their entry to the competition with a 2-1 defeat inflicted by Zambia on the same day. Senegal fans took to the web to place the blame on coach of the national team.
Touy wrote on Seneweb News [fr]:
le souci avec un entraîneur local c'est que même s'il se rend compte que  le capitaine par exemple Niang n'est pas au niveau il aura la crainte  la peur ou la pudeur de le faire sortir au détriment de la victoire bien  sur!!
Amara Traoré [fr] on RFI sheds some light on the subject for us:
Tout le monde savait avant même le début de la CAN que les zambiens sont très vifs et utiliseraient cette vivacité pour gérer les sénégalais  beaucoup plus costauds. Alors lui l’entraîneur et son staff devraient  trouver un bon système pour les contenir avant de les attaquer.Donc je  trouve kil n'a pas fais son boulot qui était de voir les choses venir et  de jouer avec des joueurs rapides mais surtout de ne pas trop bourrer  cette attaque ou personne ne se retrouve .
Matchday Two
The second matchday saw the entry of one of the competition favourites: the ‘Elephants’ of Côte d'Ivoire. A magnificent strike by Didier Drogba in the 39th minute secured the victory for Côte d'Ivoire over Sudan. The win for the Elephants wasn't enough for every Ivorian fan on the net however. Many felt that they could have done better.
Phox Hermann [fr] said:
la vérité est bonne à dire heinnn. ELEPHANT ke moi jai vu là c N'IMPORTE KOI
Bi Tia Vincent Toh [fr] added:
la conservation d'un unique but nous a donné des sueurs froides.
Que Mr Gervino soit un peu plus réaliste devant les buts,
Que Mr Yaya Touré regagne sa place au milieu et joue effectivement comme à city
Que la defense cesse d etre trop permeable,
Angola also played their first game and overpowered Burkina Faso with a 2-1 victory.
Matchday Three
Gabon, the second co-host team of the 2012 Cup of Nations showed their strength with a 2-0 win over Niger, the opening Group C match of the tournament played in a fantastic atmosphere in the Stade de l'Amitié in Libreville.
Rodrigue Magaya [fr] commented on Aubameyang's goal on Facebook:
que dire?!!!merci aux gars, il fallait ça pour la beauté du spetacle et   naturelement monter a tt nos adversaires que nous sommes la!!bien en   place et on a pas peur!!!vive la can, et vive encore plus nos   pantheres;que Dieu benisse le gabon!!!!!!
The 2012 Cup of Nations can be followed on TV5 Monde, Canal+ Afrique and on Twitter and Google+ via the hashtags #CAN2012 (in French) et #ACN2012 (in English).