daniel chigunwe
YAOUNDE. — Hosts Cameroon will go into the African Cup of Nations quarter-finals wary of an ignominious exit as they take on giant-killers Gambia in the first of the weekend’s matches.
Cameroon have been far from convincing as they have advanced through the group stages and one round of knockout matches while lowly ranked Gambia have thrilled with their attacking approach and improbable run to the last eight of the tournament.
Burkina Faso and Tunisia meet in Garoua in today’s second quarter-final clash while Egypt play Morocco and Senegal take on another upstart in Equatorial Guinea in tomorrow’s two quarter-finals in Yaounde.
Gambia are making their Nations Cup debut and are ranked 150 in world football — the lowest of all 24 teams at the Cup of Nations finals — but have yet proven able to win two out of three group matches, and then upset Guinea in the last-16, conceding only one goal, which was from the penalty spot, in four matches in Cameroon.
Cameroon, in contrast, have turned in largely mediocre performances and, although they had all the odds heavily staked in their favour in their last game against the other tournament debutants, Comoros Islands, they laboured through to the quarter-finals in a controversial 2-1 victory.
“We have seen teams ranked as underdogs stand up to high calibre countries and my players have been warned,” said Cameroon coach Toni Conceiçao.
Elimination of the hosts at this stage would come as a blow to tournament already hard hit by the death of eight spectators in a stampede ahead of Cameroon’s last game on Monday.
As a result, Yaounde’s Olembe Stadium, where the final is scheduled to be played on February 6, is not being used this weekend.
Cameroon take on Gambia in Douala where the condition of the pitch at the Japoma Stadium been declared poor and where there will be no further games, the Confederation of African Football decided this week.
Tomorrow, both matches are being played at Yaounde’s older Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.
Egypt’s clash with Morocco will be keenly anticipated and could reveal the identity of the eventual winner although Senegal remain strong favourites, even if they, too, have not delivered any strong evidence of their potential.
Senegal have scored only three goals in four outings at the tournament but have not conceded a goal and will be heavily fancied to end the run of Equatorial Guinea, although Sadio Mane’s participation is unsure after he suffered concussion in their last game on Tuesday.
The quarter-final winners advance to the semi-finals, both to be played in Yaounde, on Wednesday and Thursday.
Meanwhile, The Gambia are writing a remarkable story at this year’s African Cup of Nations after reaching the quarter-finals in Cameroon on their debut at the tournament.
Today, they take on the hosts in Cameroon’s home of football Douala and will aim to silence the partisan crowd at the Japoma stadium.
“It is going to be a different experience of course if there’s like 45 000 people in the stadium screaming for that one team who is running up on your goal,” The Gambia goalkeeper Baboucarr Gaye told BBC Sport Africa.
“It is also a kind of motivation if you feel everyone is against you, it also gives you energy. We are trying to take that to do our best and hopefully after our game the stadium will be quiet and we can celebrate.”
AFCON quarter-finals Fixtures
Today: Gambia v Cameroon (6pm, Stade omnisport de Douala); Burkina Faso v Tunisia (9pm, Stade Omnisport de Garoua).
Tomorrow: Egypt v Morocco (5pm, Stade Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidjo); Senegal v Equatorial Guinea (9pm, Stade Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidjo). — IOL Sport.
Online Reporter