Cameroon vs Egypt – Africa Cup of Nations Final LiveBlog

February 10th, 2008 | by: Daryl | Comments(41)

It’s the big one today, the Africa Cup of Nations final. It’s Pharaohs vs Indomitable Lions as holders Egypt take on Cameroon, who won the trophy in 2000 and 2002.

Cameroon 0-1 Egypt

——————-Aboutreika 76′


Africa Cup of Nations Final
Date: Sunday, February 10th, 2008
Kick-off Time: 1700 GMT (1200 EST)
Venue: Ohene Djan Stadium, Accra

-Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. Just the one goal, but I enjoyed that. Big congratulations to Egypt and to all the Egyptian fans.

-WCB Man of the Match: Carlos Kameni. He might not have a winners medal, but his performance today was superhuman. Aboutreika runs him a close second.

-El-Hadary is sitting on top of the goals and doing an insane dance, waving his fingers about. Apparently it’s a famous trademark dance that he does when Egypt or Al-Alhy get a big win.

FULL-TIME That’s it. Egypt win the Africa Cup of Nations 2008!

90+ Geremi cross and Song gets a chance at redemption, but his header goes over. That might have been Cameroon’s last chance.

90+ Mbia brings it down with his chest and then vollies over. Two minutes to go.

-Four minutes of injury time. Or four hours if you’re an Egypt fan.

89′ Mbia goes down in the area from a Hosny tackle. Big big dive, but Cameroon are desparate. Ref not interested.

88′ Samuel Eto’o is pretty much limping around up front with a hamstring injury. Aboutreika coming off for Egypt for defender Said.

87′ Idrissou kicks the ball into the crowd and gets a yellow for time-wasting. Does the big man know that his team are losing?

86′ Nkong gets a shot at goal from a narrow angle but El-Hadary gets down low to save. We’ve been talking about Kameni so much, it’s easy to forget El-Hadary has been a rock.

84′ I feel sorry for Song, since he’s been so very solid all tournament and then his defensive error is going to cost Cameroon the title. Also feel sorry for Otto Pfister. He might be a mean looking old man with a temper disorder, but after spending so long in African football he surely deserves an Africa Cup of Nations trophy.

82′ Cameroon appeal for a handball in the box. It definitely hit Mohamed’s hand, but it was outside the box and there was a high foot involved.

78′ Aboutreika brought down by Binya. Aboutreika has lit up this final. Now I see why they call him “the Egyptian Zidane.” Though I wonder how that makes the actual Egyptian Zidan feel? Probably not good.

76′ GOAL!!!!!! Doesn’t matter! Zidan wins a seemingly endless wrestling match with Rigobert Song (who had let the ball bounce under his foot) and somehow squares it to Aboutreika. Aboutreika finally finds a way past Kameni by slipping it in the corner. 1-0 Egypt.

Semi-philosophical question: If Egypt are creating the most chances and there’s only Kameni keeping Cameroon from losing, do Egypt deserve to win? Kameni is a Cameroon player so if he puts in a great goalkeeping performance does that count as part of a great team performance? Also, has too much LiveBlogging sent me a bit weird?

72′ Egypt having most of the attacking play with Hassan, Zaky and Aboutreika working it to Zidan for a shot, which gets blocked.

68′ Anyone else getting that extra time feeling?

64′ Epalle off for Cameroon, Mbami on.

60′ So close! Aboutreika swings a cross in and Hosny beats Kameni with a header, but it comes back off the base of the post.

59′ Here we go. Moateb off and Mohamed Zidan on for Egypt. Moateb not too happy about coming off, but he’s probably disappointed with himslef more than his manager. He leaves the tournament with no goals. Exciting to see Zidan out there though, let’s see if he makes the difference.

58′ Hassan looked like he was messing about with the ball in defence but then he pulls out a genius pass to Zaky and sets him free. Rather than take on Song, Zaky tries to switch it to Aboutreika but overhits the pass.

55′ Pfister makes a second change and brings out Emana for Idrissou. I’m not happy about that because Emana seems to be Cameroon’s most creative midfielder. Emana not happy either. No Cameroon player has been happy about being subbed off today.

53′ An Egyptian corner finds its way to Hosny on the edge of the box. His long range shot is – take a guess… – saved by Kameni. The man can do nothing wrong today.

51′ Corner is cleared so we get to see the Atouba long-throw instead, which is just as dangerous. It’s headed away though.

49′ Hassan finds Zaky, Zaky shoots, Kameni saves, Cameroon break through Samuel Eto’o. That seems to be the Cameroon game plan in action right there. They get a corner.

48′ Ahmed Hassan plays a beautiful long ball straight into the path of Motaeb. Motaeb gets tackled eventually, but that ball from Hassan had class written all over it.

47′ Eto’o plays a great ball into the path of Nkong, but the fomer Colorado Rapid man can’t control the ball enough to bring it down and shoot.

46′ Gomaa sends a great ball out to Zaky, but the flag’s up for offside. I see Atouba, so somehow he’s fine for the second half. Good work by the Cameroon physios.

45′ We’re off again.

-Players are coming back out.

HALF-TIME No goals so far, but plenty of good goalkeeeping, mostly from Kameni.

45+ Otto Pfister yelling about something. Looks very mad. Atouba is down and holding his hamstring, which probably has something to do with it.

-Two minutes of stoppage time.

43 El-Hadary still limping. But at least his knee smells nice now. Down the other end Zaky gets a quick shot at Kameni, who saves again. The Cameroon keeper has looked unbeatable.

39′ I’m not sure about the Egyptian medical staff. It’s two old men who stare at El-Hadary for a bit and then spray something on his injured knee. Only they don’t roll up his goalkeeping trousers, they just spray it right onto the fabric. Maybe it’s Fabreeze?

37′ El-Hadary races off his line to beat Samuel Eto’o to the ball, but Eto’o (almost definitely accidentally) catches the keeper with his boot. El-Hadary down and looking very uncomfortable.

36′ Aboutreika plays Moateb through with a sweet sweet pass. Kameni saves Moateb’s shot, the rebound hits Moateb and bounces out.

34′ Eto’o beats Mohamed with a little twist of his hips and drags a shot just wide. Eto’o can go quiet for stretches but he’s always ready to pounce.

32′ Sepp Blatter looking on. Unpopular as he is, Blatter would be worth having as a friend? Can you imagine all the free tickets he gets? Any game of football anywhere in the world, he can get free tickets.

29′ Zaky doesn’t look happy with his right ankle. Mohamed Zidan is warming up. Kameni won’t be pleased to see Zidan running up and down the touchline after the goals he put past him last time.

26′ Tchato with not one, but two more great slide tackles.

24′ Tchato looks like a miniature, sample sized centre back, but came across to make a well-timed slide tackle on Fathy.

22′20′ Said dribbles through from the back. His tame (lame) shot bounces over to Aboutreika out wide, Aboutreika again misses the target though.

18′ Seconds later Egypt break and Kameni makes an amazing save from Zaky’s volley. Aboutreika puts the rebound over. You know a game is good when it’s difficult to LiveBlog.

18′ Geremi’s excellent free kick is saved by El-Hadary.

17′ Emana dribbles past a few and just as he approaches the penalty area he runs into Gomaa. Or rather Gomaa runs into him, very hard. Free kick.

15′ Alexandre Song and his injured right knee are coming off for Binya. He looks very very sulky about it. Seems he thought he was OK to play on, but Otto Pfister disagrees.

12′ Aboutreika (I think?) shoots and Al-Hadary saves. Plenty of good football so far.

11′ Kameni tries to volley clear but ends up on his arse. The ball goes to Zaky who tries a first time volley at goa. But it’s over.

10′ El-Hadary punches away a cross, but not very far. Luckily a defender clears.

Lineups -

Egypt: Al-Hadary, Gomaa, Mohamed, Said, Fathy, Moawad, Hosny, Hassan, Aboutreika (in the hole), Zaky, Moetab

Cameroon: Kameni, Geremi, Tchato, R. Song, Atouba, A. Song, Mbia, Emana, Epalle, Nkong, Eto’o

6′ Hosny bends the free kick at goal but Kameni saves and catches.

5′ Aboutrieka nutmegs Mbia (I think) and takes off. He’s brought down on his way towards the area though. Aboutreika looks lively. He’s had a Red Bull before the game.

4′ Aboutreika relieved Alex Song of the ball and played Zaky out wide. But the immeneseness that is Rigobert Song is there to block the cross.

2′ Eto’o gets his head to a cross but not on target. What are the chances of him scoring again today? I say pretty good.

1′ Cameroon have replaced Bikey with Bil Tchato in central defence. Which is weird because apparently he’s a left back. But who am I to argue with Otto Pfister?

0′ We’re off.

-Cameroon adopt the arms around the men next to you formation for a stirring rendition of the Cameroon national anthem. I’m half certain it’s called “O, Cameroon.” Let me know if I’m wrong.

-National anthem of Egypt – “My Homeland, My Homeland, My Homeland” – being sung. Pretty girls waving flags in the crowd.

-Teams coming out, led by Rigobert Song (apparently playing in his 33rd Africa Cup of Nations game without missing a single second) and Ahmed Hassan.

-OK, now I understand. It was the countdown to the official feed. Images of Cameroon players arriving at the stadium earlier. They’re all laughing and shaking hands. Looks like they’re in good spirits.

-Now I’m getting a weird countdown on screen. It’s like an early episode of “Lost.”

- Alrighty then. We have video feed. The Ohene Djan isn’t looking particularly full just yet. You can bet that would have been different had Ghana made the final. Here’s hoping there are some latecomers.

-The LiveBlog should get going about 30 minutes before kick off. Until then please share any predictions (I’m thinking we might see plenty of goals then extra-time and penalties, but I’m an optimist) and have a read of the preview below. Links to internet streams will be added if I can find them, but if you have working links, feel free to share those in the comments too.

Preview

Scout Report – Cameroon

It’s hard to argue that Cameroon have set the Africa Cup of Nations alight. They opened with a 4-2 defeat to today’s opponents, but bounced back with wins over easier opposition. Zambia were beaten 5-1 and Sudan 3-0. The 3-2 quarterfinal win was somewhat fortuitous, as was the 1-0 semifinal win over Ghana. But they do keep getting the job done.

Carlos Kameni has looked a lot more solid after the shaky opening against Egypt. He’ll be better prepared for those long range shots from Hosny and Zidan today. At the back Rigobert Song has been immense. The inspirational captain seems older than time but apparently he’s only 31 and nowhere near retiring. His usual defensive partner Andre Bikey will be sitting today out with a suspension after this bit of mentalness. Also worth keeping an eye on is left back Timothee Atouba. He’s strong and is useful going forward, but more importantly he’s got a great big throw on him that make all Cameroon’s throw-ins as dangerous as corners.

In midfield young Alexendre Song has been way more impressive than expected, winning plenty of tackles and looking far more mature than any 19-year-old should. He was injured during the game against Ghana so it’s a race against time to see if he can get fit for today. Achille Emana has emerged from relative obscurity to become the main Cameroonian playmaker this tournament, though the number 10’s effectiveness is severely reduced when Pfister plays him out wide. We’ll see what happens today. Stephane Mbia was on hand to score two of the goals that got Cameroon past Tunisia, while Geremi has been hitting free kicks like the ball has personally wronged him.

Up front it’s all about Samuel Eto’o. Barcelona striker, top scorer in Africa Cup of Nations history and so on and so forth. We all know how good he is and Egypt’s big defender Wael Gomaa will have his hands full marking the guy. But just as important is who partners Eto’o. It’s important because Eto’o is always so closely marked that his partner tends to get a bit of extra space, as Alain Nkong found by playing a quick one two off of Eto’o on his way to scoring the winner against Ghana. Nkong has been a sub but his semifinal heroics may get him a starting spot today. Mohamadou Idrissou looks good in the air but not so much on the ground, while Joseph Desire Job hasn’t done much but accept two gifted goals against Zambia.

Scout Report – Egypt

Egypt roll into the final in high spirits, with no bumps along the way. The initial 4-2 win over Cameroon was followed by a professional 3-0 win over Sudan and a disappointing but still good enough to top Group C draw with a feisty Zambia. In the quarterfinals they saw off a plucky effort from Angola to win 2-1 before turning it on for the big occasion and crushing Cote d’Ivoire 4-1 in the semis.

In goal, there’s no arguing with the quality of Essam Al Hadari, arguably the best keeper in Africa. Poor Didier Drogba just couldn’t find a way past the experienced keeper in the semi-final. The defence is built on the rock that is Wael Gomaa. Big, uncompromising, brave, all the things you associate with proper centre halves. It’s likely he’ll be marking Samuel Eto’o so that should be an interesting tussle.

The Egyptian midfield is packed with quality. Classy defensive mid Hosni Abd Rabou has been banging in long range goals and penalties as if they were the same thing, while keeping the midfield ticking with smart passes. Ahmed Hassan is the captain and the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations player of the tournament with all kinds of skill. We haven’t seen too much of the Anderlecht player so far, but he could turn it on at any time, playing centrally or out wide. Man of the moment is Mohamed Aboutreika. The Al-Alhy attacking mid started slowly (apparently he had the flu) but has slowly built up form and started banging in goals from midfield. He looks the man in form and I’m hoping to see him start today.

Up front there’s a nice spread of talent, but the two standout names are Amr Zaky and Mohamed Zidan. The latter started the tournament with a bang by scoring two against Cameroon, but since then Zaky has taken over the goalscoring duties. Zaky got two against Cote d’Ivoire in the semi and scored the winner against Angola in the quarter, so if I’m a Cameroon defender I’m keeping an eye on him.

Team Blog: Visit Tamim at the Egypt Blog for an African Cup of Nations final preview from a Pharaohs perspective.

Streams:

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/sun10.2/Cameroon_Egypt.html
http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/sun10.2/Cameroon_Egypt2.html
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=6079&part=sports

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