By Sammy Etuk Jr.
All is set for tomorrow’s Orange/African Nations Cup draws holding in Luanda, the capital of the oil-rich South-West Africa state, Angola. With the team song, ‘Angola, a Country of future’ the stage is set.
The venue for the draws is the Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda. This is where the 16 qualifiers will be divided into four groups from which the winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals in the month long Championship last held in Ghana.
As usual the draws will be presided over by Issa Hayatoua, the boss of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Also the following dignitaries have confirmed that they will attend the ceremony, Joseph Blatter, the president of FIFA – International Federation of Football Association and Frank Williams, the owner of Formula 1 Williams team.
The tournament the first to be hosted by a Portuguese-speaking country will be played in four Angolan provinces of Benguela, Cabinda, Huila and Luanda with the kick off billed for 10th January of 2010.
The 16 qualifiers are hosts Angola, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.
The big party that officially opens the Orange Africa Cup of Nations- Angola 2010 will feature a series of cultural activities to steer up the gala. Entertainment groups and musicians lined up to make the prestigious African football event memorable include the artistic Pende music group and traditional dance, the traditional instruments solos as marimba, hungo and kissange.
Other great acts will include a show of the Angolan national ballet; the presentation of the Democratic Congolese singer Papa Wemba and a theatrical show by Grupo Julu, and Filipe Mukenga, who will be singing the official hymn of the tournament, “Angola, a country of future”.
After the draw ceremony another round of entertainment for guests will be special presentations by Gabriel Tchiema, delivering the songs of Cokwe culture; the Kituxi traditional music groups, Margareth do Rosário, an enthralling female singer, and Papa Wemba’s return on stage for his second act.
The draw ceremony will be broadcast live on international television. Besides the Palancas Negras will play a tune up game against Ghana tomorrow evening as parts of its preparation for the Nations Cup, and will fly to Portugal on December 26 for the full camping ahead of the finals.