Africa Cup of Nations semifinals is about to hit its peak, as the semifinal matches occur this week. The second pair, the one that features hosts Cameroon and the top favorites for the title, Egypt is by far the biggest game of the tournament so far. The hosts have high hopes, and this is a unique chance for them to lift the trophy once again and bring joy to their country. On the other side, Egypt wants revenge for 2017 and the finals, which they lost to Cameroon. Also, Mo Salah wants to add another trophy to his collection as well as the entire Egyptian squad.
BetXchange will bring the preview for this event, along with the best pick and odds for the same.
Preview
Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions are on a mission here. The goal is to win the title, and bring back the old glory, which kinda faded away, despite them winning the same trophy five years ago. It seems that all the other top African nations get more media coverage and hype than Cameroon.
That is the biggest motive for António Conceição da Silva Oliveira’s unit. That is why they play like a team, subordinating the ego and putting all the effort without asking any acknowledgment for it. Such an approach earned four wins and a draw at the ACN so far, and arguably the most attractive football in the tournament. Vincent Aboubakar is chasing the Golden Boot award, and is slightly ahead of teammate, Karl Toko Ekambi.
Unlike all the other teams here, Cameroon likes to attack, and they often focus more on that than on defense, which isn’t the case with most nations here. That is why all but one of Cameroon’s games saw both teams scoring, and they netted twice or more on four occasions.
Egypt
Mo Salah isn’t impressive as everyone expected, but Liverpool’s superstar apparently kept his energy for the knockout stage. He exploded against Morocco in the quarterfinals, scoring a goal and assisting for one, reminding everyone that he is the best player in the world.
Egypt opened the tournament with a loss to Nigeria, but after that kept its net until the quarterfinals, in three straight events. We also have to say that Egypt had the worst schedule of all, meeting with Nigeria, and then Ivory Coast and Morocco in the knockout stage.
All of their contests in Cameroon have ended with under 2.5 goals, and only one saw both teams scoring. That tells us that the Pharaons are playing very tight and defensive-minded football.
Head to Head
The last time these two sides met was in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations back in 2017, when Cameroon won, 2-1, taking the title. Four of the previous five games between these two nations ended with over 2.5 goals and with both teams scoring.
Prediction
We took one very bold, but highly profitable bet here – both teams to score. Here is why we believe in that. Cameroon has the best attack in the tournament, with Aboubakar and Toko Ekambi leading the way. On the other side, their defense is not that strong, and we believe that there will be enough space for Salah, Trezeguet, and the rest of the Egyptian forwards to score at least once. Meanwhile, we don’t doubt Cameroon’s ability to deliver.
Pick: Both teams to score at 1.43 BetXchange
