Cameroon vs. Egypt – betting tip, prediction, odds for the Africa Cup match (03.02.2022, 20:00 CET)

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.

Max Stargard

By Max Stargard

Even as a child, I started typing the results of the Bundesliga with my friends at school. The stakes were modest back then: The lunch, a few marbles or maybe a milk slice. Then, at the age of 9, I played the penalty bet once - and immediately got 10 right. The previous week I had won 500 DM and in my childish imagination I was already imagining how many football pictures I could buy at the kiosk on the corner. Unfortunately, it was one of those match days when everything turned out as expected and I only won DM 8.10. Nevertheless, I followed the game with great interest. Nevertheless, the passion to correctly predict the outcome of sporting events haunted me for the rest of my life. I would have loved to own the sports almanac that Marty McFly bought in Back to the Future II. Much later, when I was already working as a journalist for newspapers and as a writer for television, I came across an international betting forum with over 100,000 members - and found out that a lot of people there were giving their tips on German football, but nobody seemed to have a real clue, so I wrote a few English-language preliminary reports with a few tips - and was right about everything. After that, an avalanche started. I got offers from bookmakers, sports papers and even betting syndicates to work for them - and I accepted a few of them too, experiencing the ups & downs of sports betting and travelling halfway around the world in the years that followed. There I met Chinese multimillionaires betting five to six figures, amateur players in Serbia or Turkey supporting their families with small stakes, South Africans gambling away half their fortune, Brazilians who could only leave their favelha and become rich by making the right tips. At one point my life was similar to Matthew McCaughaney's in the film Two For The Money - and far too much stress. I subsequently moved to another continent and ran an English-language football epaper about the Bundesliga from there. After the birth of my son, I devoted myself for many years only to artistic projects in the field of photography and literature. However, I am happy to share my knowledge and passion with the readers of bettingtipsafrica.