Sport

Africa, Sport

Egypt beat Cameroon, Nigeria scrape through to semis at Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt beat Cameroon, Nigeria scrape through to semis at Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1 in extra-time, winning a record 17 Africa Cup of Nations matches on the trot, and setting themselves up for a record seventh title and record three trophies in a row.

The Pharaoh’s captain Ahmed Hassan made his 170th appearance for the team, which is also an African record, and scored two goals plus an earlier own goal after he skimmed a Cameroon corner into the net with his head. He later levelled the score from 25m.

Cameroon let the Egyptians slide one in during extra-time from a sloppy back-pass, before Hassan struck the winner with an extra-time free-kick that bounced off the top bar and looked not to have crossed the line.

Four-time Cup winners Cameroon played some of the best soccer of their tournament, forcing Egypt to concede several early corners, but early in the second half, their defence started looking porous in the face of a wave of Egyptian attacks. They then recovered and played out the half with Cameroon rushing forward in search of a second goal.

In the later quarter-final, Nigeria beat an unlucky Zambia 5-4 on penalties after they drew 0-0 in a fiercely contested match in extra-time. Zambia nearly went ahead in the 66th minute when a shot off a corner kick was cleared off the line. The best chance for Zambia came in the final minute of normal time when a corner was headed just over the bar of Nigeria’s goal.

Three African 2010 World Cup qualifiers are now in the running for the title – Ghana, Algeria and Nigeria. Nigeria play Ghana in the semis, and the Egyptians meet Algeria. They lost out to their north African rivals in a World Cup play-off match in Sudan in November, which saw the Algerians progress to South Africa, and days of rioting in both Cairo and Algiers.

Read more: BBC, Soccerway

Photo: Mahmoud Fathallah of Egypt challenges Pierre Webo Kouamo of Cameroon during their African Nations Cup quarter-final soccer match at Ombaka stadium in Benguela January 25, 2010. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.