14:00 ET Canada-USA | 21:00 Cairo Local Time
Venue: Stade Olembe
Two of African football’s most renowned nations go up against each other in the second Africa Cup of Nations semi-final, with hosts Cameroon and Egypt set to clash.
This will be their 11th AFCON meeting, with no two teams facing each other more often in the competition’s history, but there will be as much – if not more – attention on what occurs away from the pitch on Thursday.
It will be the first match to be played at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde since January 24, when eight people died and 38 were injured in a crush prior to Cameroon’s defeat of Comoros.
Cameroon great Samuel Eto’o, now president of the nation’s football federation, has already landed himself in hot water for appearing to attempt to motivate the Indomitable Lions by suggesting they need to approach the match like “a war”, check out best online casinos australia for your chance to win big cash prizes.
Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz strongly voiced his disapproval during a news conference, saying: “It is a very bad message to the people of Cameroon. I think he forgot that Cameroonian people died at the stadium a couple of days ago. To make this declaration of war before a game, I think he has learned nothing from being in professional football.”
On the pitch, the omens appear to be against Cameroon.
No team have got beyond the semi-finals as a host nation since Egypt in 2006, with the Pharaohs going on to win the tournament – they repeated the feat in each of the next two editions.
Nevertheless, Cameroon’s own semi-final record is good, progressing from seven of their previous nine such matches.
Either way, a giant of African football will be eliminated on Thursday.
Fun facts
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).
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).
