Glory beckons for sleeping giants in Africa Cup of Nations final

After 51 matches and 101 goals, the first-ever 24-team Africa Cup of Nations tournament will draw to a close on Friday with a fitting finale between two of the continent’s strongest nations.

For years, both Algeria and Senegal have boasted a wealth of talent matched only by the lack of reward to show for it. This year’s Africa Cup of Nations final represents an opportunity for at least one of the perennial under-achievers to right the wrongs of the past and banish the demons borne from years of disappointment

No one carries the weight of those disappointments more than Aliou Cisse whose missed penalty in the 2002 final consigned Senegal to defeat against Cameroon in what was the nation’s first and, until this year, only appearance on Africa’s grandest stage.

The 43-year old has since traded his studs for a seat on the sidelines, having being appointed Senegal coach in 2015, and is looking for his shot at redemption. This year’s final offers him the chance to reach a height that not even he and the famed class of 2002 could achieve.

Algeria too, are managed by a former player and one who shares a tale of disappointment of his own. As a teenager in 1990, Djamel Belmadi watched his nation earn a coveted star above their crest with a final victory over Nigeria on home soil.

He would have dreamed of one day being part of a similar success story and that dream nearly became a reality 14 years later, only for it to be shattered by a quarter-final defeat to Algeria’s North African rivals, Morocco. It was the only time he ever participated in the competition.

Belmadi and Cisse’s presence in Friday’s clash will make it the first time since 1998 that the final of the competition is contested by two nations with local coaches. On that occasion, Egypt’s Mahmoud El Gohary came out trumps against South Africa’s Jomo Sono.

One would be forgiven for believing that their paths have been intertwined since birth, and that they were fated to meet in the final. Born just a day apart and on different continents (Belmadi was born in France to Algerian forebears), the pair were both raised in Champigny-sur-Marne and had their first encounter at youth level.

Although Cisse and Belmadi never took to the field for the same team, they played against each other again during their shared time in Ligue 1 and their careers ran parallel to the point that they both hung up their boots for the last time in 2009. Fast-forward a decade and their paths are destined to cross again in Cairo.

Belmadi’s Algeria have been the standout team at this year’s competition and won every match en route to the final, scoring the most goals by any nation along the way. The Desert Eagles even recorded a narrow win over Senegal in the group stages but that result will count for naught when the two countries meet on Friday.

The occasion represents a chance for Algeria to finally deliver on the promise they made in 1990 and become the power they were destined to be, while Senegal’s fate is in their own hands if they wish to immortalize themselves among those who have come before them, and those will follow after.

Glory beckons for the winner and all that remains to be seen is which nation will rise from their slumber to claim it.