With the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations getting to the end, the two most successful sides in the history of the AFCON, Egypt and Cameroon will compete in a pound for pound action to see who seek through to the grand final.
Their last meeting in the final was in 2017, when the Indomitable Lions sealed a 2-1 victory, and with 12 titles between them, this game has all the makings of an exciting and nerve-racking contest.
Match Preview
The hosts, Cameroon have enjoyed a sensational AFCON campaign as they they prepare to face the 7 times champions at the semi-final stage.
The Indomitable Lions rolled the curtains on January 9, when they came from behind to beat the Stallions Burkina Faso in the opener they see-off Ethiopia by 4-1 scoreline.
They progressed from the group stage with seven points after they were denied to secure their third victory following a 1-1 draw with Cape Verde in their final group encounter.
The Indomitable Lions maintained their top form to see-off Comoros in the last 16 with 2-1 scoreline, keeping their great performance to brush off Gambia in the quarter-finals.
Impressiively, only two players Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi have scored all the goals for Cameroon at the tournament.
Captain Aboubakar has scored 6 of the goals whiles Karl Toko Ekambi has also netted 5.
The Indomitable Lions, who are seeking to conquer the continent for a sixth time, are now unbeaten in each of their last nine outings across all competitions — picking up eight wins and one draw — stretching back to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Ivory Coast in the World Cup qualifiers last September.
On other hand, Egypt had a slow start, lost to Nigeria in the opener by a goal to nil.
They bounced back to defy the odds to advance to the round 16 following their slim win(s) over Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.
They reached the last eight by beating Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties before crashing out their North African counterpart, Morocco with a 2-1 victory to reach the semi-final stage.
Egypt have won the title seven times with Cameroon winning five to follow the Pharaohs.
Head To Head
This will be the 11th Africa Cup of Nations encounter between Egypt and Cameroon, no two teams have met on more occasions in the competition’s history.
● Egypt have won three of their last four Africa Cup of Nations games against Cameroon (L1), scoring nine goals, this after netting just twice across their previous six encounters against the Indomitable Lions in the competition (W1 D2 L3).
● Cameroon have progressed from seven of their nine semi-final matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, only opponents Egypt (8) have made it through this round more often in AFCON history.
● The Africa Cup of Nations hosts have been eliminated in three of their last five semi-final matches in the competition, with Egypt the last such team to progress from this round (2-1 against Senegal in 2006).
● Since the beginning of 2017, no player has been directly involved in more goals (9) at the Africa Cup of Nations than Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (six goals, three assists) or Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar (seven goals, two assists).
