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What: The African Cup of Nations final will pit Ivory Coast against Ghana, the two strongest sides on the continent
When: Today at 1 p.m. CST
Where: Equatorial Guinea, whose emergency hosting of the tournament was rendered a bit less popular after their supporters nearly provoked a battle with Ghana fans during a viciously contested semifinal.
Where to watch: BeIN Sports has the rights in the USA. If it's not carried by your cable company, a sports bar is one's best bet.
Who: The Chicago Fire's David Accam has been around the fringes of the starting XI all tournament without seeing much time at all; he could start and play 90, or not play at all, or anything in-between. His minutes have effectively been snatched up by surprise starter Kwesi Appiah - on loan at League Two (English fourth division) side Cambridge United - during the tournament.
Ghana's success in the tournament has been a surprise, as they barely qualified and staggered into the group stages. But human toad Avram Grant, who's managed the side for a grand total of six weeks, has the Black Stars playing organized, opportunistic football that takes great advantage of their pace, creativity and incredible attacking talent: Asamoah Gyan, Christian Atsu and Andre Ayew have particularly impressed.
In contrast to Ghana's youth movement, Ivory Coast represents perhaps the last flowering of a great generational talent-bloom. The spine of the team features names familiar to basically every English-speaking soccer fan: Yaya and Kolo Toure are the lynchpins of the defense, Yaya connecting defense to attack from a deep midfield role while Kolo marshals a three-man defense. Up top, the imperious Didier Drogba is still a battering-ram striker, even if he's lost a step of pace.
Despite the success of each nation internationally, neither has won the Cup of Nations recently. Ivory Coast's last triumph in the tournament was in 1993, with Ghana's a decade previous to that.
If you're watching today, please use this thread as a live matchthread! Here's to hoping for an Accam sighting.