QUARTERFINALS:
Saturday, January 29@7pm:
Gambia v Cameroon
Saturday, January 29@10pm:
Burkina Faso v Tunisia
Sunday, January 30@6pm:
Egypt v Morocco
Sunday, January 30@10pm:
Senegal v Equatorial Guinea
A classic David versus Goliath clash is on the cards when Gambia, the tournament debutants, take on five-time champions Cameroon in the first quarterfinal match of the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Finals.
The game due Saturday, January 29 in the Cameroon Capital, Younde, kicks off at 7:00 pm East African time.
Despite making their maiden appearance at the AFCON Finals, Gambia have been impressive at this tournament, thus far.
In four games, Gambia have not lost, having beaten Mauritania (1-0) and Tunisia (1-0) and held Mali (1-1) in the group phase. In the last-16 tie, the Gambians claimed a big scalp in Guinea (1-0), one of the teams rated among the pre-tournament favorites.
Based on the above results, there is no doubt that Gambia are on a dream run at their AFCON Finals debut.
However, they come up against Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, who are not only enjoying the home advantage as host nation but also hold pedigree in the competition they have won five times in the past.
Cameroon’s last AFCON title was won in 2017, meaning they are desperate to end the five-year drought.
In this particular tournament, the Indomitable Lions have not been very convincing but they have done the job. In the group phase, they beat Burkina Faso (2-0) and Ethiopia (4-1) before drawing one-all with Cape Verde. They squeezed past Comoros (2-1) in the last-16 to storm the quarters.
Talismanic skipper Vincent Aboubakar, who also leads the scorers’ chart with six goals, will be the man Gambia defenders need to stop.
On paper, the odds are against Gambia but they have gathered all the confidence to upset Cameroon in this quarterfinal tie. They did it against Tunisia and Guinea, both highly-ranked teams on the continent.
Meanwhile, If Cameroon and Egypt sail through their quarterfinal ties, they will meet in the semifinals, revoking memories of the 2017 AFCON final, which the Cameroonians won 2-1 to triumph.
Egypt, who dumped Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties in the last-16 round, must navigate past Morocco in their quarterfinal match on Sunday, January 30.
This is a massive North African derby, which can go either way but Egypt have extra motivation after eliminating the Ivorians.