AFCON’s most successful sides, Cameroon and Egypt who have 12 titles between them will battle one another tonight for a place in the finals to be staged at the Paul Biya stadium Olembe on Sunday.
With the home crowd pushing them ahead, Cameroon have galloped into the semi-final in style and will look to keep the momentum going while Egypt who started the tournament with a defeat will look to continue to ride on their luck.
- NSCDC withdraws security aides from Rep Shina Peller
- TOUCHING: Before and after images of the brave guard killed by Boko Haram’s mine
The Indomitable Lions got their campaign on a winning note with a 2-1 victory over Burkina Faso before cruising to a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Ethiopia four days later.
Having already booked their place in the knockout stages, Cameroon were denied a 100% record in the group stages as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Cape Verde side in their final group encounter on January 17.
With seven points from three games, the Central Africans secured smooth passage into the round of 16, where they were drawn against newcomers Comoros, a team they laboured to defeat before claiming a 2-0 victory thanks to a second-half brace from Karl Ekambi in the quarter-finals.
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 and will be up against Egypt who they last met in the final back in 2017.
Nicolas N’Koulou and Vincent Aboubakar scored second-half goals to cancel out Mohamed Elneny’s 22nd-minute opener to win that final.
On their part, Egypt head into today’s game as the most decorated side on the continent with a record seven Africa Cup of Nations triumphs and they will look to repeat their 2010 run, when they went all the way before defeating Ghana 1-0 in the final.