By Akinwale Kasali
The hopes of the vociferous fans at the Olembe Stadium was dashed, as their joy and cheers suddenly turned to sadness and despair. Their team and tournament host, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, crashed out of the African Cup of Nations Championship.
No one would have thought that the Pharaohs of Egypt that started the tournament on a bad note would get to the finals. The resilience, determination and zeal of the Coach Carlos Queiroz players propelled them to a 3-1 penalty shootout score line after 120 minutes of goalless action.
The match was dominated by the host who had two of their shots hit the goal post, and outstanding saves by Ali Gabaski in goal for the Egyptians. A last gasp save by Cameroon’s Andre Onana in the closing stages of the match saw the match go into penalties.
Coach Sergio Conceicao of the Cameroon team was not clinical in penalties, losing three spot kicks, with the Egyptians converting theirs to edge closer to their Eighth AFCON glory.
The defeat of Cameroon by the Egyptians could be said to be a sweet revenge for the North Africans who are yet to come to terms with their 2-1 defeat in the hands of the Central African country at the 2017 AFCON final.
Defeating Cameroon on home soil was a superb payback for them, as the Mohammed Salah captained Egyptian teams’ joy knew no bounds.
The final of the 33rd Edition of the African Cup of Nations tournament will be a Liverpool Football Club affair, as the Club’s most priced players, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah will trade tackles for the coveted Continent ’s silverware.
The Teranga Lions of Senegal will be aiming to win the coveted AFCON title for the first time, with the Egyptians standing as an obstacle in achieving this feat.
Though, Egypt’s record in AFCON history is scintillating, but Salah and his teammates will be gunning to make history also as none of the players in the squad has ever won the AFCON trophy.
The last time Egypt lifted the AFCON trophy was at the 2010 AFCON tournament in Angola, with Mohammed Aboutrika leading the Egyptians to achieving the feat.
Mane and Salah are the assets of their teams and the burden falls on their shoulders.
Senegal will be aiming to avoid a repeat of 2019 AFCON final where it lost to the Desert Warriors of Algeria through a Baghdad Boudnejah striker. Facing another North African team in a final of such magnitude would avoid another defeat.
Like in 2002 when the Senegalese lost the AFCON final to Cameroon, the Senegal team were tagged the ‘golden generation’ just like the present crops of players, but failed to achieve any meaningful success via a silverware, these set of Teranga Lions would be gunning to write their names on gold.
It is also a battle of coaches between indigenous and foreign. Coach Aliou Cisse of Senegal was part of the 2002 AFCON squad that lost the final to Cameroon in Mali, he would be targeting to win the trophy that eluded him as player and winning it as a coach, while Queiroz, a former Manchester United Football Club assistant Coach to legendary Coach, Alex Ferguson will want to achieve such huge success as a coach by winning the AFCON tournament with Egypt.
On Sunday, February 6th, 2022, history will be made, either a newly crowned AFCON champion will emerge or Egypt will add to his Seven AFCON trophy tally, this will be known when both team square up against each other at the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
