Expert names John Boye as 2012 Cup of Nations best player

The BBC's popular African football journalist Farayi Mungazi has named Ghana defender John Boye as the best player at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Mungazi named the France-based player in his final wrap of the competition that ended in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea on Sunday.

Below is Mungazi's full analysis of the competition:

Player of the tournament: Ghana's John Boye - the revelation of the tournament in my view. Rock solid at the centre of the Black Stars defence and his goal-line clearance in the Group D match against Botswana will linger long in the memory.

Team of the tournament: Zambia. Theirs was not an easy route to the final, facing two of the three pre-tournament favourites before tackling the big favourites in the final. They played some enterprising football and are African champions, worthy of the name.

Best coach: Herve Renard. He brought discipline and organisation to his team and made them believe they could match their more illustrious opponents. He is also a very approachable and likeable man.

Best match: Gabon game against Morocco is a game I will remember for a very long time. The way the co-hosts came from a goal down to eventually win 3-2 made everybody sit up and take notice. At 2-2 and with time almost up, most sides would have settled for a point, but I was impressed by the manner of their fighting spirit.

Best goal: Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene's penalty kick in the shoot-out was text-book stuff, a lesson in how to convert from 11 yards. He shamed many of the strikers here with his spot-kick.

Favourite moment of the tournament: I think the image of Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda holding the Nations Cup trophy surrounded by jubilant Chipolopolo players will become one of the defining moments of this tournament. His passion for football is beyond dispute and he is one of the reasons many Zambians fell in love with their national team.

Rate the co-hosts: A fantastic tournament on the pitch with some great football. I liked the fact that the likes of Libya, Niger and Botswana did not disgrace themselves - they were not here to make up the numbers, andBotswana's 6-1 drubbing by Guinea aside, gave as good as they got. Off the field, a lot of things could have been better, not least the media facilities and the working environment in Franceville. I'm still not sure why the city hosted matches ahead of two bigger cities with better infrastructure.