Global Scope: Africa Cup of Nations 2013

For those of you who were unaware, the Africa Cup of Nations has been going on in South Africa since the 19th of January, with two semifinals to be played tomorrow (Mali vs Nigeria and Burkina Faso vs Ghana) and the grand finale on Sunday. Coming into South Africa every nation was aware of the implications that this year's event would have on the champion: a berth to the FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil and with a start date of June 15th. Naturally the importance of the competition was greater than usual, and this led to some interesting story lines to be played out in South Africa's magnificent stadia, the same ones used for hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.