When every game, every goal in modern football tends to be described as potentially the best ever, the extent to which the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations was universally recognised as a bit of a dud was almost reassuring.
It began with a round of 12 group matches that brought just 12 goals and finished with only a penalty shootout victory by Senegal sparing us all the mental gymnastics required to hail an Egypt side who scored once in four knockout matches as worthy winners.
And so it is with a degree of trepidation that one looks ahead to what appears a wide open successor. It begins on Saturday in the Ivory Coast with as many as nine feasible winners and a new breed of talismen, led by Ghana's Mohammed Kudus and Nigeria's Victor Osimhen, adding further star power to the established headline trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez.
While billing of the next month as Salah's last chance may be wide of the mark (neither the Liverpool man's performances, nor abdominal profile suggest he will not still be fit and firing by the next renewal in only 18 months' time), it remains a strange curiosity that the best player to hail from Africa's most successful footballing nation has never ruled the continent.
By virtue of a run to the semi-finals of the World Cup that was even more surprising than it was historic, Morocco must now carry an unprecedented burden of expectation as they seek to put a comparatively shoddy AFCON record behind them. "The last time we made a semi-final, I think I was a player," said head coach Walid Regragui. "I had hair."
Algeria, meanwhile, are among the form horses, unbeaten since November 2022 but explicitly aware that such statistics count for nothing. Three years ago, they arrived in Cameroon unbeaten in 35 matches, on the brink of a world-record run, and then failed to get out of the group, some going in a tournament that has aped the Euros' 24-team expansion, with two-thirds of those reaching the knockout phase.
Perennially under-rated but largely consistent, Tunisia round off a quartet of North African hopefuls who each have the region's travelling curse to overcome. Egypt, in fairness, bucked the trend with victories at Angola 2008 and Ghana 2010, but none of the Maghreb nations have lifted the trophy south of the Sahara since Morocco's win in Ethiopia in 1976.
Home advantage, though, has been no great boon, either. The last seven tournaments have brought seven different winners, none playing in their own back yard, which is hardly great news for an Ivory Coast side hoping partisan support can drive a promising but inexperienced squad to new heights, the greats of yesteryear — and Galatasaray's Wilfried Zaha — left behind.
The hosts are joined in Group A by Nigeria, for whom Chelsea target Osimhen is spearhead of arguably the tournament's deepest attack, even with in-form Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface a late absentee through injury. Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro often fields four forwards, such are his riches, but can he find the necessary balance with his job potentially on the line after a flat start to World Cup qualifying?
In Group B, Ghana, managed by Chris Hughton, are sweating on the fitness of West Ham star Kudus, who has missed their build-up with a hamstring problem, but Group C looks the tournament's toughest, with defending champions Senegal and previous hosts Cameroon joined by Gambia and Guinea.
Cameroon were one of the more adventurous sides at AFCON 2021, fired to the final four by the goals of Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi, though this time around Rigobert Song must cope with the late arrival of Andre Onana at the other end of the pitch, with the goalkeeper due to play for Manchester United against Tottenham on Sunday, 24 hours before their opener.
Which leaves the holders, blessed with an immensely talented squad but facing the not small question of how playing club football outside Europe's elite leagues will have affected the form of the experienced core — Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly and Mane — that made moves to the Gulf last summer.
Mane warned last week that this tournament looks the most competitive AFCON of his career. Whether it will prove among the best remains to be seen.
