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Africa Cup of Nations winners and losers

The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations delivered the good, bad and ugly before Egypt overcame Ghana in a dour final to secure a record third consecutive title.

Algeria edged overwhelming title favourites Ivory Coast 3-2 in a quarter-final epic while Mali staged a hard-to-believe four-goal comeback to draw with Angola in a sensational tournament opener.

There were too many bad matches, especially for those whose memories of the sparkling 2008 tournament in Ghana had not faded, with the 0-0 quarter-final between Nigeria and Zambia the worst as it lasted longer than any other.

Terrorism, a welcome absentee from the 53-year tournament, finally reared its ugly head two days before the 2010 event with two members of the Togo delegation murdered when a bus convoy was ambushed in Cabinda.

AFP highlights some of the winners and losers from the 2010 Nations Cup:

WINNERS

Egypt

An ageing squad defied the odds again to claim a record third consecutive title by winning all six matches and their victims included 2010 World Cup qualifiers Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and Ghana plus Mozambique and Benin.

Ahmed Hassan

Overtook retired Egyptian compatriot Hossam Hassan as the most capped African footballer and is now 10 national team appearances away from world record held by former Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohamed al-Deayea.

Ghana

Getting to the final minus their first-choice central defenders and entire midfield because of injuries was little short of miraculous and these young fighters will be a side to watch come the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Algeria/Ivory Coast

Produced the match of the tournament, a five-goal quarter-final epic that ranks among the great Nations Cup encounters with Algeria coming from behind twice before winning via a Hameur Bouazza extra-time header.

Mali

It never happened before in the Cup and it may never happened again. With 79 minutes gone Angola were leading Mali 4-0 in the tournament opener. When the full-time whistle blew the scoreboard read 4-4 and Luanda was dumbstruck.

Zambia

Fought well above weight under young French coach Herve Renard to top a group including Cameroon, Tunisia and Gabon before outplaying Nigeria in a quarter-final only to be betrayed by feeble finishing.

LOSERS

Togo

Two delegation members shot dead ... another severely injured ... the team disqualified after flying home ... and later barred from next two editions because of government interference in decision to quit Angola.

Nigeria

Second best against Egypt, lucky against Benin, ultimately promising against Mozambique, woeful against Zambia, wasteful against Ghana. Surely the serial third-place finishers can do better?

Algeria

After bringing glory to African football in the quarter-finals, they shamed the continent with three semi-final dismissals against Egypt and the crazy Nadir Belhadj challenge for the second red deserves a lengthy ban.

Egypt v Cameroon assistant referee

His decision to awarded Egypt a third goal against Cameroon was horribly wrong. An Ahmed Hassan free kick came off the underside of the crossbar and there was never even a hint of the ball crossing the line.

Some CAF officials

One claimed the attack on Togo was actually a “burst tyre” on a bus, the confusion over who topped Group D was embarrassing, and the media constantly complained that those employed to help them were forever unavailable.