The first African Cup finalist has been announced since yesterday. Senegal defeated Burkina Faso, the surprise of the tournament, 3-1. Tonight (kick-off at 8 p.m.) it will be announced who will be the opponent in the final battle on Sunday evening: Cameroon or Egypt.
Host country Cameroon survived the group stage, but it was not easy: after a difficult victory over the later semi-finalist Burkina Faso (2-1) it was convincingly settled with Ethiopia (4-1), but the changeable team drew in the last group match against Cape Verde by a nice goal from Rotterdammer Garry Mendes Rodrigues.
In an insane eighth final, Cameroon managed to shake off the Comoros, who had a left back on target and soon ended up with ten men, (2-1). And with a business-like 2-0 in the quarter-finals against The Gambia, the Indomitable Lions can still hope for their sixth Africa Cup overall victory.
In that sixth overall victory they will in any case be able to use the help of Vincent Aboubakar. The 30-year-old striker of Al Nassr has already scored six goals after five games. Aboubakar has good memories of matches with Egypt. On February 5, 2017, he made it 2-1 in the 88th minute in the final in Libreville, bringing Cameroon to their fifth African Cup.
Aboubakar can come in a nice row of strikers, because in 1984 and 1988 Roger Milla was the big man when Cameroon won the tournament. In 2000 and 2002 a young Samuel Eto’o took the team by the hand, supported by big names such as Patrick M’Boma, Lauren and Geremi.
However, Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy will start the game with confidence. The closing post of Egypt was only passed twice this tournament and kept excellent in the eighth final against Ivory Coast (win after penalties) and the quarterfinal against Morocco (2-1) in the semifinal. Of course Egypt also has a world-class striker. He may only have two goals and an assist in this tournament, but Mohamed Salah is the absolute star of the Egyptian squad.
The Pharaohs can also boast an even richer Africa Cup history than Cameroon. Egypt is the record holder with their seven overall victories. After the successive in 2006, 2008 and 2010, more final victories were not forthcoming. So the Egyptians will be eager to secure a final spot in the lion’s den, but they won’t have many fans in the stands when they face the host nation tonight.
Egypt has a world-class striker and a goalkeeper in form in Salah, but Cameroon has a world-class goalkeeper and the tournament’s top scorer. This tournament is certainly not running as it should in Cameroon and Egypt, but good football is always of secondary importance in tournaments for players, coaches and supporters. Tonight there is only one goal: a place in the final against Senegal.
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