conspicious opposites: Mali vs. Egypt  Egypt, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and even Liberia have balanced gropus with players from all categories. This is the most promising for a continuing flow between players generations.  Mali's unconventional selection rather promises to develop into a structure that could last for some years: almost all players come from the same age group. In 1998 (click to open the graphic in a popup window) Morocco had a team from just one age group and did not perform well. But they had been some years older in average.  Algeria vs. Burkina Faso Algrians, Tunisians, then South Africa and Morocco have the most experienced players - agewise. But experience can be also helped by playing a good number of big matches as for example Samuel Kuffour from Ghana has done with two European Champions League finals and even more years experience in that competition. Not to forget Nigeria, whose numbers are missing on the CAF list. The youngest players come from West Africa, Burkina Faso has the biggest group for the second nations cup in a row. Ghana with a lot of their experienced professionals absent are surprise runners up here. But sometimes those graphics can deceive a little: Several Ghanaian players are 19, several Ivorians 20. others  A significant change has taken place in the Moroccan squad. Compared to only 1 player below 25 two years ago, they arrive with half of their squad inthis group now