The failure of Egypt, Cameroon & Nigeria to qualify & the Top 10 shocks in Afcon history

The Flames were making only their second appearance at the Acorn finals and they were drawn against Algeria, who had qualified for the World Cup in South Africa. On paper, it was a case of David versus Goliath.

But the Luanda pitch experienced a rewriting of the script that fateful day as the Malawians tore apart the fancied Algerians, putting three goals past them courtesy of Russel Mwafulirwa, Elvis Kafoteka and Davi Banda.

The Flames went on to lose their remaining matches, but they left a big imprint on the tournament, and they gained a great deal of respect throughout the continent.

Since its expulsion from the original Caf founding group of four in 1958, South Africa had not engaged in active football on the continent. Then, 38 years after the ban on the country was originally imposed, Bafana Bafana hosted and won the 1996 tournament.

Many say this feat was possible due to the absence of defending champions Nigeria, who opted out of the competition for political reasons. No matter the arguments, South Africa pulled off a big surprise on the remaining teams as they waltzed their way into the record books, defeating Tunisia 2-0 in the final courtesy of Mark Williams’ brace.

The Zimbabweans made their debut at the Afcon in 2006 and were not expected to have much impact considering they were drawn in the same group as Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana. By the end of their second game, the Warriors were effectively out and only needed to complete the numbers in their final match against the Black Stars, who were going to make their own debut at the World Cup in Germany later that year.

Ghana didn’t know what hit them as the Peter Ndlovu-captained side ran out 2-1 winners and took the Black Stars with them as they exited the tournament with their heads held high.

In 1996, Nigeria were the superpowers of African football. They won the Afcon title two years earlier and were expected to defend it when South Africa agreed to host in place of Kenya. But political differences between the governments of both countries had boiled over into the sport.

Military ruler Sani Abacha did not see eye to eye with Nelson Mandela, and so barred the Super Eagles from the trip to Johannesburg to continue their domination. The decision also denied striker Rashidi Yekini the opportunity to add to his Afcon goals haul after consecutive highest scoring performances in 1992 and 1994.

Ten years after they won the Afcon on home soil, South Africa saw their fortunes slowly decline. In 1998, they won silver and then a bronze in 2000. In 2002, they lost to hosts Mali in the quarter-finals.

They failed to make it past the preliminary stages in 2004, even though they had a win, a draw and a loss in a difficult group that contained seasoned campaigners Morocco and Nigeria, as well as Benin.

They plumbed their lowest depth in the competition in 2006 when they lost all three matches, conceded five goals and scored none.

Just days before the 2010 Afcon was set to commence in Angola, the Togolese national team were attacked on their way through the border by a separatist Angolan group and lost two officials in the gun battle. The team’s goalkeeper Kdjovi Obilale took a career-ending shot to his body during the unfortunate encounter with the Cabinda rebels.

As the whole world commiserated with the Togolese nation, who decided to recall their national team from the competition, the 'gentlemen' at the helm of affairs in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) decided to ban the country from international football.

It was meant to be the big battle of the northern neighbours due to the recent attacks on the Algerian team bus in Cairo during qualifying for World Cup 2010. The semi-final clash between the Pharaohs and Fennecs in Benguela threw up many challenges for the organisers as they had to deal with the sudden influx of fans from both countries on the eve of the game.

Instead of the game ending with a bang, it concluded with a whimper as the Egyptians gave the Algerians, who had denied them a World Cup ticket, a trouncing. Four goals from Hosny Abd-Rabo, Mohamed Zidan, Mohamed Abdel-Shafy and Mohamed Gedo settled it once and for all.

One of the most emotional scenes for any neutral at the end of the 1994 Afcon was the sight of Kalusha Bwalya and his Zambian team weeping after losing to Nigeria. The Chipolopolo were the fairytale team of the tournament, as they came with a whole new squad after their first team perished in a plane crash the year before.

The side defeated defending champions Cote d'Ivoire courtesy of a Kenneth Malitoli goal before beating Senegal and Mali on their way to the final. However, Nigeria's Emmanuel Amuneke scored a brace after Elijah Litana had put them ahead. It was not to be a fairytale ending after all for the team with a big heart.

The biggest shock in Afcon history thus far happened to a number of African football giants in qualifying. The failure of Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa and Algeria to secure a place in the tournament finals all in the same year seemed almost impossible, but this was what  happened ahead of the 2012 event.

Having won 14 titles between them, the failure of the African football powerhouses has shown a shift in the game on the continent and it will mean a new winner will emerge from outside these ranks for the first time since 1984 (barring the Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia victories in 1992 and 2004). It’s a new dawn for African football.