Cameroon and Egypt will meet in the 2nd semifinal of the African Cup of Nations on Thursday evening. The kick-off at the Paul Biya Stadium in Olembe is at 8 pm. We have analysed the teams for you and picked out the best betting options for this match.
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What is in Cameroon’s favour?
- Home advantage: sold-out stadium
- Better individual line-up
- Egypt with 3rd goalkeeper
What is in Egypt’s favour?
- Mohamed Salah
- Has only conceded two goals
Our betting tip
Bet: Cameroon to win
Bookmaker: Betsson
Odds: 2.20
Cameroon qualified for the semi-finals with a 2-0 win against the surprise team from Gambia. That was no great hurdle for the team led by the tournament’s top scorer so far, Vincent Aboubakar. The hosts’ semi-final opponents are now Liverpool star Mohamed Salah‘s team, Egypt. The North Africans struggled a bit and had to go into extra time in a very even game, where Trézeguet scored after a wonderful pass from Salah to make it 2-1.
Expert analysis Cameroon
The hosts from Cameroon have already won the African Cup of Nations five times, most recently in 2017, and are favourites in front of their home crowd at the Paul Biya Stadium Olembe against their final opponents from 2017 (when Cameroon won 2-1). So far, the indomitable Lions have lived up to the high expectations placed in them, winning all but the insignificant third preliminary round match against Cape Verde.
The most notable player is striker Vincent Aboubakar, who currently plays for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia. He is also the tournament’s top scorer so far with 5 goals, followed by his teammate Ekembi (Olympique Lyon). So the Cameroonians are perfectly set up in attack and also go into this important match with their best squad – only right-back Fai has picked up a slight injury and is still questionable. However, MLS player Mbaizo is an equally good alternative.
Expert analysis Egypt
Egypt has won the tournament seven times – the last time in 2010. Five years ago, they reached the final and lost to Cameroon. So now Egypt has a chance for revenge. But Egypt is above all a one-man show. Salah has been outstanding so far in this tournament, even if he has only scored 2 goals, 3 less than Aboubakar. But there is a clear lack of class around Salah, even though he has two English Premier League players alongside him in Trézéguet (Aston Villa) and Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal London). In addition, there is Stuttgart striker Omar Marmoush from one of the top European leagues. All the others earn their money in the domestic league or on the Arabian Peninsula.
However, Carlos Quiroz’s team has a big problem with the goalkeeper position. Regular goalkeeper El-Shenawy is injured, and his replacement Gabal had to be substituted in extra time against Morocco. Now the 22-year-old Mohamed Sobhi of Pharco FC from the Egyptian league will be a starter. He is a goalkeeper who is still very inexperienced. His international goalkeeping career is limited to just 24 minutes. Will he hold his nerve against the Cameroonian star strikers in the heated atmosphere of Olembe?
Head to head & statistics
In the past 10 years, this encounter has only been played once, in the aforementioned 2017 final, in which Cameroon won 2-1.
Below are some statistics on both teams over the course of the tournament:
Goals: Cameroon has scored 11 goals and conceded 4 in five games. That’s an average of 2.75:0.80 or 3.55 goals per game. In turn, they have had to shoot at the opponent’s goal an average of 16.4 times, which is coincidentally a 16.4% strike rate. No team had more shots on goal. However, Cameroon’s opponents were Comoros, Cape Verde, Ethiopia or Gambia. Not the biggest names in the tournament.
Egypt, on the other hand, scored 4 goals and conceded only two. They also averaged 0.8:0.4 and 1.2 goals per game respectively. Egypt averaged 13.4 shots on goal – a modest 6.0%. But Egypt also played Nigeria, Morocco and Ivory Coast, three top African teams with strong defences and goalkeepers.
Egypt will probably impose their rather defensive game with occasional counter-attacks via Salah. Not many goals are to be expected.
Corner kicks/cards: With strong wingers like Salah or Trezeguet, Egypt’s game runs much more through the outside positions. That is why the Egyptians are usually awarded a lot of corners. Against the strong defence of their opponents, the Egyptians took an average of 7.4 corners.
However, the bookmakers also see Cameroon as favourites in the corner bet and give them a corner handicap of -1.5. Cameroon & Egypt have only received 8:7 cards in the tournament so far. So “only” 1.6:1.4 per game. The last time the two teams met in 2017 final, there were “only” 3 cards in the entire match – and only in injury time! Keep that in mind for your inrunning-bets!
Our betting tip Cameroon vs. Egypt
The hosts have a euphoric crowd behind them that will push the team forward from the first minute. Cameroon has a team made up almost entirely of European players. They have had a relatively easy programme so far, but Egypt should not be a stumbling block for them – especially as they will have an inexperienced goalkeeper in goal.
But: You always have to keep an eye on Egypt’s star Mo Salah – he alone can decide a game with his actions. Nevertheless: Bet on a win in regular time for Cameroon at good odds of 2.20. Another betting opportunity: Egypt +1.5 Corners @1.90
These bets and many others are available at almost all bookmakers, for example at 1xBet.
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