2012 African Cup of Nations Field Set - No Spurs Competing

Well, that's that: the 16 teams competing in the 2012 African Cup of Nations has been set. The field includes Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote D'ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, and Zambia.

Why should you care? Well, that field includes none of the national teams of the Tottenham Hotspur squad. Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Sebastien Bassong's Cameroon failed to qualify, providing a tremendous boost to the Spurs' left back position (and defensive depth overall). Steven Pienaar's South Africa also failed to qualify, (even though they mistakenly celebrated like they did). Even internationally-retired Emmanuel Adebayor's Togo failed to qualify, quashing any thoughts of a comeback.

Perhaps most meaningfully for Tottenham though, their squad stays whole while some of their rivals lose significant pieces for perhaps up to nearly a month. After the break, a look at who some of Tottenham's rivals will lose (or not lose) for the tournament.

Manchester United:

Mame Biram Diouf

Manchester City:

Yaya Toure

Kolo Toure

Chelsea:

Didier Drogba

Solomon Kalou

Liverpool:

None

Arsenal:

Gervinho

Marouane Chamakh

Emmanuel Frimpong (Uncapped)

Newcastle United:

Demba Ba

Chieck Tiote

Aston Villa:

None