Cameroon vs Egypt: Things to know about historic semi-final clash in Yaoundé

AFCON 2021: There are no teams that have won Africa Cup of Nations titles than Cameroon and Egypt in Africa.

The Holy Grail of African Football twelve times, seven for the Pharaohs and five for the Indomitable Lions.

On Thursday, they will be seeking a place in the 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations final when they lock horns in Yaoundé.

The Pharaohs seem to own almost all of AFCON historic records, but there’s one that they are desperate to extend, winning their eighth title.

After a sluggish group stage campaign, Egypt rose to the expectations to oust Cote d’Ivoire and Morocco and reach the semifinals in style. Now they have to face another tough hurdle in the form of their hosts.

The Pharaohs will look up again to their star captain Mohamed Salah, who scored twice to the moment, and assisted the winner in the quarterfinals against Morocco.

The hosts’ intentions have been clear from Day 1; they just want the title at home.

Four wins and a draw in the road to the semifinal give The Indomitable Lions a vast amount of confidence before facing rivals Egypt for a ticket in the 6 February final. They know well they will have the support of thousands as they dream of a sixth AFCON trophy.

Cameroon will once again rely on the lethal attacking duo of Vincent Abubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi, who has scored all Cameroon 11 goals to the moment, six for Abubakar and one less for Ekambi.

Following are the Match Facts from Opta:

● 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).

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