{"id":876,"date":"2022-01-09T19:26:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T19:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off"},"modified":"2022-01-09T19:59:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T19:59:56","slug":"cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon dream of title at home as Cup of Nations kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Fifty years after last hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon kick off the continental showpiece on Sunday targeting a sixth title while hoping the spectre of the coronavirus does not overshadow the tournament.
\nCameroon, who play 2013 runners-up Burkina Faso in their opening Group A match at the vast new 60,000-seat Olembe Stadium in Yaounde, know expectations are high for the Indomitable Lions.
\nHowever, they will have to measure up to the likes of reigning champions Algeria, the Senegal of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah\u2019s Egypt.
\nCameroon was initially supposed to be the host nation in 2019, before being stripped of the tournament due to delays in its preparations, with Egypt taking over. The 33rd Cup of Nations was then postponed last year because of the pandemic.
\nThe Central African country of 27 million people was therefore determined to press on with the competition amid reports last month that leading European clubs wanted it postponed again due to Covid concerns.
\nThis time it does go ahead, and Cameroon coach Toni Conceicao is well aware of the pressure on his side.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s what they put on the table when I signed my contract: at least get to the final, do everything to win it,\u201d Conceicao told AFP.
\n\u201cWe feel that the people and history of Cameroon oblige us to do it. It sets the bar pretty high, but we\u2019re convinced we can reach these goals.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got a big weight on our shoulders,\u201d added the Portuguese.
\nAfrican football officials have set down tough Covid-19 rules in a bid to prevent the competition becoming a super-spreader event, requiring teams to play even if just 11 players are available.
\nGabon star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was forced to isolate in his hotel after testing positive on Thursday, while Senegal, Africa\u2019s top-ranked national team, travelled to Cameroon without three members of their squad for the same reason.
\nSenegal then had key defender Kalidou Koulibaly test positive shortly after their arrival.
\n\u2013 \u2018Scandal\u2019 \u2013
\nBurkina Faso captain Bertrand Traore called the testing procedures a \u201cscandal\u201d after at least four squad members and coach Kamou Malo tested positive in the run-up to Sunday\u2019s opener.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a scandal, we cannot be deprived of first team players 24 hours before the match,\u201d said Traore.
\n\u201cThe authorities must review the organisation.\u201d
\nCovid, though, is far from the only concern in a country dealing with a conflict in the English-speaking west.
\nMatches in Group F, featuring Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia, are due to be played in Limbe, a coastal city close to Mount Cameroon which is also a hotspot of separatist unrest.
\nJihadist raiders also pose a problem in the north, at least beyond the city of Garoua where Salah\u2019s Egypt and Nigeria will play group games.
\nIt is because of the health crisis that organisers have capped crowd limits at 60 percent of capacity, or 80 percent when the hosts play.
\nSpectators must be vaccinated and have a negative test result, but only six percent of the adult population is inoculated.
\nCameroon, though, is football mad and many fans will be desperate to attend games in a country that has only hosted the Cup of Nations once before, in 1972 when there were just eight participants.
\nHowever, the nation that gave the world the likes of Roger Milla and Samuel Eto\u2019o \u2014 the latter now president of the Cameroonian Football Federation \u2014 no longer boasts the same level of stardust.
\n\u2013 Comoros, Gambia debut \u2013
\nThey have Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana and Bayern Munich striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, but the real superstars of the continent will be elsewhere.
\nSenegal boast not just Liverpool forward Mane but also Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
\nHolders Algeria, unbeaten in 33 competitive games, will be led by Manchester City\u2019s Riyad Mahrez, while Morocco have PSG full-back Achraf Hakimi and Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, amongst others.
\nNigeria, meanwhile, cross the border without Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, or Watford\u2019s Emmanuel Dennis, whose club said they received notice of his call-up too late.
\nIn any case this Cup of Nations is not just about the big names, as Gambia, ranked 148th in the world, and the Indian Ocean island state of the Comoros make their debuts.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Fifty years after last hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon kick off the continental showpiece on Sunday targeting a sixth title while hoping the spectre of the coronavirus does not overshadow the tournament. Cameroon, who play 2013 runners-up Burkina Faso in their opening Group A match at the vast new 60,000-seat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,13,17,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-social","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nCameroon dream of title at home as Cup of Nations kicks off - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fifty years after last hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon kick off the continental showpiece on Sunday targetin ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cameroon dream of title at home as Cup of Nations kicks off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fifty years after last hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon kick off the continental showpiece on Sunday targetin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-09T19:26:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-09T19:59:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/01\/img-61db3e8c07eb8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cameroon dream of title at home as Cup of Nations kicks off\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-09T19:26:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-09T19:59:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\"},\"wordCount\":726,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/01\/img-61db3e8c07eb8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"Social\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/cameroon-dream-of-title-at-home-as-cup-of-nations-kicks-off\",\"name\":\"Cameroon dream of title at home as Cup of Nations kicks off - 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