Cameroon coach Antonio Conceiçao has acknowledged the sadness in the Cameroon camp after their defeat to Egypt ahead but was pleased and proud of his players.

Conceiçao’s side missed three penalty kicks during the shootout as the Pharaohs of Egypt book a place in the final on Thursday. 

However, Cameroon beat Burkina Faso 2-1 in the opener of the tournament at the Stade d’Olembé, Yaoundé, and both nations will lock horns again this Saturday for a place on the podium of the 33rd edition of TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021.

“The sadness is great, especially when we do not achieve our objectives,” Antonio Conceiçao told the media.

He noted, “The players have worked well, and I am proud of them. It is up to us to learn now and move forward. I give the best of myself to have the best results with this team. We wanted to write history, but it didn’t work out.”

Cameroon’s keeper André Onana toed the line of his coach, noting their disappointment as he urged for his side to regroup.

“Disappointment is indeed great, but that’s life. We have to regroup to win this third place this Saturday against Burkina Faso. We have to try to forget elimination in the semifinals and think about the future, especially this classification match and the World Cup qualifiers. We have confidence in ourselves, and we must recover quickly,”

Burkina Faso Coach Kamou Malo is focused on the job at hand as they look to end the tournament on a good footing. 

“We are indeed disappointed following our elimination in the semifinals, but we have to prepare ourselves properly to play this match for third place in the best conditions. We have to remobilize now. We are physically and mentally ready to play our game.”

Stars player Bertrand Traore (Captain, Burkina Faso)

“We are obviously down after our elimination, but we have to remobilize to get the bronze medal. At this level of the competition, we feel tired, but we will do everything to have a good match and end the tournament on a good note.”

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Egypt will face Senegal in the Final on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah coming up against Sadio Mane after Cameroon crumbled in a penalty shoot-out after failing to convert three of their four spot-kicks as Egypt reached the AFCON final.

The Pharaohs keeper Mohamed Abou Gabal was the hero as Egypt overcame the hosts’ nation Cameroon to reach this year’s Africa Cup of Nations final with a 3-1 success on penalties.

Gabal’s two stellar penalty shootout saves from Egypt proved to be pivotal.

After 120 minutes of scoreless action, goalkeeper Abou Gabal saved spot-kicks from Harold Moukoudi and James Lea Siliki before Clinton N’Jie completely missed the target. 

Egypt will take on Senegal in the showpiece on Sunday, though Carlos Queiroz will not be in the dugout after being sent off for two displays of dissent towards the end of normal time. 

In a low-tempo game littered with mistakes, the best chance of the first half came when Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui saw his header hit the post in the 18th minute. 

Mohamed Salah was presented with a glorious chance to open the scoring in the second half by a short back pass from Martin Hongla but was unable to round Andre Onana after the goalkeeper hared out of his box to intervene. 

Samuel Oum Gouet went close to scoring a goal of the tournament contender when his rasping 35-yard drive clipped the outside of the post, and Queiroz was sent off before the start of extra time. 

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The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has confirmed that the third and fourth place final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon has been rescheduled – to the 5th of February. 

The federation announced the changes following consultation between its organising committee and the Cameroonian government. The change only affected the date and not the venue.

“The Caf Africa Cup of Nations Organising Committee, after discussions with the government of Cameroon and the Local Organising Committee [LOC], decided to move the Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 third and fourth place originally scheduled for Sunday 06 February 2022 to Saturday, 05 February 2022,” Caf announced.

“The match, to be played at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, will kick off at 20h00.”

Meanwhile, Burkina Faso now awaits a loser between Egypt and Cameroon to contest third place in the ongoing AFCON games.

Senegal had on Wednesday night reached this year’s AFCON final after beating Burkina Faso to 3-1.

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Sadio Mane was brilliant as he scored the winner to help Senegal make this year’s final of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon after their 3-1 over Burkina-Faso on Wednesday at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.

Defender Abdou Diallo scored the first goal for the party for the 2019 losing finalists when he calmly slotted in from close range on 71 minutes.

Aliou Cisse’s side had two penalties awarded in the first half, only for the Ethiopian referee to change his mind both times following a VAR review. However, they went ahead just after the midway point in the second period when Paris Saint-Germain defender Diallo popped up in the box to produce a striker’s finish.

The first semi-finals was a great showdown as the West African derby lived up to expectations.

The second arrived on 76 minutes as Mane provided a superb assist for Gueye, also of PSG, to score, and Mane completed the win late on after Blati Toure had pulled a goal back. 

Africa’s top-ranked national team, Senegal, will find out their opponents in Sunday’s final on Thursday when hosts Cameroon take on Egypt in the second semi.

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