AFCON 2019: Two former champions set to go home on Saturday
Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - At the end Saturday's Round of 16 matches at the 32nd African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Saturday, two former champions will head home. The question is whose quest for glory will be truncated?
At 1600 GMT at the Alexandria stadium Nigeria will play defending champions Cameroon while at the Cairo International Stadium at 1900 hosts Egypt will meet South Africa.
Nigeria's Super Eagles with their three titles (1980, 1994 and 2013) and Cameroon's Indomitable Lions, five-time champions (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017) will fight to the death.
In the past, their paths have crossed six times. Each side has two victories in regulation time (3-1 in 1984 in Côte d'Ivoire, 1-0 in Morocco in 1998 for Cameroon; 2-1 in 1992 in Senegal and 2-1 in Tunisia in 2004 for the Nigeria account); and a draw (1-1 in a group match in 1988 in Morocco).
The Cameroonians, who are defending champions, may, however, have the psychological advantage of having defeated the Nigerians on penalties, at home, in Lagos, in the final AFCON 2000.
Significantly, but both teams are yet to reach their peak performance.
Nigeria was even beaten in a group match by Madagascar while Cameroon drew two group matches and was second in Group F behind Ghana.
At the monumental Cairo International Stadium, the Pharaohs of Egypt will seek to take another step in their quest for an unprecedented eighth African title (crowned in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010).
They face South Africa whose only coronation goes back to 1996.
While Egypt won all its Group A matches, South Africa only scraped through as one of the best third placed teams in Group D.
-0- PANA BKN/BEH/KND/MA 5July2019
