In Yaounde

Hosts Cameroon will face Egypt in a blockbuster semi-final at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, (Afcon) at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde on Thursday 10pm Kenyan time.

The encounter between the two most successful sides in the competition is expected to produce fireworks with many billing it as the final before the final.

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon enjoyed a comfortable cruise from the group stage to the knockout stages and into the last four.

The hosts will be banking on their skipper Vincent Aboubakar, the tournament top scorer with six goals, and Karl Toko Ekambi, who has five goals, to guide them past the Egyptians and into Sunday's final.

With an unbeaten run so far in the tournament and spurred on by partisan home crowd, the five-time champions will be hoping for a replay of their 2017 final in Gabon where they beat the Pharaohs 2-1.

Though very impressive going forward, there has been a noticeable defensive weakness in coach Antonio Conceicao’s side that conceded in all their matches except their quarterfinal fixture against Gambia at the Japoma Stadium in Douala.

Fai Collins, who is now fondly called ‘Dependable Fai,’ Jean-Charles Castelletto, Michael Ngadeu and Nouhou Tolo will need to be at their best in the Cameroonian defence and thwart the prolific Mo Salah.

Coach Carlos Queiroz's Egypt boast of a defensive machinery that Cameroon goal scoring duo will need to work hard to break through.

After a difficult start to their eighth title campaign, Salah and teammates have vastly improved, seeing off favourites Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties in the round of 16, before dispatching another favourite Morocco 2-1 on Sunday to reach the semis.

The Pharaohs have conceded just two goals in their five outings, despite fielding third-choiced goalkeeper Mohamed Sobhy, who made his debut last Sunday following injuries sustained by Mohamed El Shenawy and Mohamed Abou Gabal.

He said he is not aware the Egyptian Football Association has lodged a complaint with the Confederation of African Football, (CAF), protesting the appointment of Gambian referee, Bakary Gassama, to officiate the match.

He shocked journalists at a pre-match press conference in Yaounde on Wednesday when he declared he was in the dark about the development.

“I didn’t even know the petition against the referee by the Egyptian Football Association. You are the one informing me,” the Portuguese manager responded to a journalist.

He said the team is only focused on the match against the five time champions who he described “a good team, good players and good coach”.

The Egyptian FA did not give details why it objecting one of Africa’s best referees from officiating the game.

Queiroz also used the press conference to explain why he was absent from a pre-match press conference before their last eight clash against Morocco in Yaounde on Sunday, which has attracted a “huge fine” from organisers of the tournament.

He said they have received a heavy fine of $100,000 for something that was not the responsibility of their management staff, the coach nor the captain.

“We wanted to go for the press conference and they drove the coach and the captain to another place which was not the venue of the press conference. We apologise for the incident but it was not our responsibility,” the coach said.