Gabon are back at the African Nations Cup after a 10-year absence hoping they can at least match a previous best showing of a quarterfinals place.

The Panthers from central Africa achieved that feat in 1996 before bowing to Tunisia following a penalty shoot-out and the January 17 Benguela clash with the same country could decide whether they make the last eight.

Cameroon are expected to top Group D - considered second toughest of four first round mini-leagues - and Zambia start as outsiders given an inability to score.

Gabon are a team lacking big names with the most recognisable to many fans being Daniel Cousin, the Hull City striker who arrived in north-east England via France and Scotland.

Many would have scoffed at his pre-qualifying prediction that the Panthers would finish second behind Cameroon and ahead of Morocco and Togo, but he got it almost perfect with the Togolese Sparrowhawks finishing third.

The Nations Cup qualification of Gabon and the failure of Morocco to reach Angola were shocks and Cousin believes the African stage can inspire his team to greater heights this month.

"Football followers do not realise what good players we have because none of my team-mates line up with a major European club," the national captain said.

That could be about to change with Liverpool and Inter Milan reportedly spying on young central defender Bruno Ecuele, who also managed to push forward and score twice in the 2010 qualifiers.

The biggest fear for Cousin ahead of the biennial African football showcase is whether he can be an effective skipper given the withdrawn personality of the 32-year-old goal poacher.

"It is a role I do not know very well and perhaps it does not quite fit in with my personality. I do not talk very much so I let my Gabonese team-mates come to me instead."

Cousin, leading scorer Roguy Meye, Fabrice do Marcelino and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are the chief contenders for frontline places in a team coached by former France midfield 'great' Alain Giresse.

And behind Ecuele, France-based goalkeeper Didier Ovono has come a long way since the days he barely meted out a living playing for an obscure club in El Salvador.