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Moh Salah (number 10) and his teammates: Penalty shootout success
Photo:
Themba Hadebe/AP
Record winner Egypt has followed Senegal's national soccer team to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The "Pharaohs" defeated hosts Cameroon on Thursday evening in the capital Yaoundé 3-1 on penalties.
After regular time and extra time, the Stade d'Olembé was 0-0.
In the final on Sunday, the two top players on the continent, Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mané (Senegal), will go head-to-head.
Both attackers know each other well - they play side by side at the club.
They won the Champions League and the championship together with Liverpool FC and coach Jürgen Klopp.
Now they are rivals.
The semi-final penalty shoot-out could hardly have gone worse for Cameroon.
Egypt's superb goalkeeper Gabaski saved two penalties, Clinton N'Jie missed the goal, only Vincent Aboubakar had converted his attempt.
All three scorers scored for Egypt - the safest, striker Salah, had not yet taken his turn before it was over.
Previously, in a competitive, fast-paced and balanced duel, there had only been a few clear scoring chances on both sides.
Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz, former coach of Real Madrid and most recently active for the national teams of Colombia and Iran, was shown a yellow card in the last minute of regulation time because he kept gesturing and swearing at the assistant referee.
"Everyone wanted to show what they're capable of, and that's what we've got from this."
A series continues with Cameroon's elimination from the semi-finals: no host country has won the Africa Cup of Nations since Egypt 2006.
The hosts have failed prematurely eight times since then.
'This is a great disappointment.
In football you reap what you sow.
We have a great team and every time we play as a team we win," said striker Aboubakar. "In this game everyone wanted to show what they are capable of and that's what we got from it.
When we're strong collectively, we win, but when everyone tries to do what they want, we lose out."
Senegal had reached the final the night before.
The Teranga Lions defeated Burkina Faso 3-1 (0-0) and are thus taking the next attempt at their first title win.
At the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Senegal lost 1-0 to Algeria in the final.
The defending champion was eliminated this time after the preliminary round.
A devastating mass panic broke out in the Stade d'Olembé on January 24 before the round of 16 between Cameroon and the Comoros.
After the tragedy that left eight dead and 38 injured, the arena in Cameroon's capital Yaoundé was released again.
The stadium was built at a cost of $300 million especially for the tournament.
mon/dpa/Reuters