The other teams in Group A that will be based in Durban, are Angola and Morocco.

It will be folly though for Bafana Bafana and their coach Gordon Igesund to underestimate The Blue Sharks who will be making their first appearance in the continental showpiece as they really earned their qualification the hard way by eliminating one of African football’s giants, Cameroon.

It is worth noting that Bafana Bafana are in the tournament by virtue of being hosts, having failed to qualify for the past two versions hosted by Angola in 2010 and jointly by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon earlier this year.

While the other nations were engaged in grueling qualifiers, South Africa have had to rely on a sprinkling of international friendly matches for their preparation as they qualify automatically for this tournament as hosts.

Pressure will be on the team to emulate the Class of 1996 who won the trophy on home soil.

The elimination of Cameroon and five-time African champions Egypt from the tournament shows that the pendulum has swung in African football.

Even defending champions Zambia had to rely on a penalty shootout to eliminate Uganda to make it to the last 16.

The entire field of the nations who have qualified for this edition looks quite impressive and nine of them were also in Equatorial Guinea/Gabon for the last tournament.

Ethiopia, once a powerhouse in African football, make their 10th appearance at the finals but their first after a 31-year absence.

Niger will be appearing for only their second time in the tournament.

The Democratic Republic of Congo who are in Group B with Ghana, Mali and Niger and will be based at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth, have won this tournament twice in 1968 and 1974.

Defending champions, Chipolopolo of Zambia lead Group C that will be based at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga. The other teams in this group are Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

The Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg will host Group D that is led by The Elephants of Ivory Coast with Tunisia, Algeria and Togo completing the group.

West Africa continues with their domination as the region has six countries in the tournament. North Africa did not do so well this time as they only have three qualifiers which is the same number as Southern Africa which usually struggles in this tournament.

Southern Africa has only produced two winners, South Africa (1996) and Zambia (2012) since the tournament started in 1956.

South Africa - being a nation of winners, as they say - the country expects nothing less than victory at home. But, do they have the players to do it?

That question will be answered in January.