TANZANIA, Aug. 3 -- East Africa is hosting what might be the most unpredictable football tournament of the year, and no one is entirely sure how we got here.

CHAN 2024, with 19 nations congregated to what feels like a party someone mentioned in passing, only for it to explode into a full-blown festival of football, sweat, excuses and goats.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – three neighbours more familiar with avocado debates than co-hosting duties – have come together to offer a stage for locally based players.

No European imports, no global stars. Just homegrown talent, tactical socks and the dreams of nations tightly packed into stadiums buzzing with vuvuzelas, bodabodas and, in some cases, unpredict able plumbing.

This isnt ...