Africa Cup of Nations Quarterfinals at World Cup Blog

By: Daryl | February 4th, 2008

Angola get ready for Egypt
The Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals got off to a cracking start yesterday, when the Ghana vs Nigeria showdown actually lived up to the hype. It was a brilliant mix of mutual respect, hard tackling and cramp. Lots and lots of cramp as both sets of players ran themselves silly. Despite having captain John Mensah sent off, Ghana claimed a 2-1 win with a Junior Agogo goal in the last ten minutes. While Ghana’s victory gives them West African bragging rights, they may want to go easy on the bragging if they saw Cote d’Ivoire in action. Led by Didier Drogba, the Elephants showed no mercy and trampled Guinea 5-0.

Today it’s the second set of quarterfinals, with the mighty Pharaohs taking on the Palancas Negras, and the Indomitable Lions preparing to battle the Carthage Eagles.

If those nicknames mean nothing to you, then you need to read this. Then you’d know that today is current Africa Cup of Nations champions Egypt versus first-time in the knockout stages Angola. This features the last two remaining African coaches, so there’ll definitely be one African coach in the semis. But not two. Egypt will expect to takes this, Angola should enjoy the freedom from pressure that comes with being the underdog.

The second game is Cameroon vs Tunisia. Both teams recovered after so-so starts, and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o now has the most goals in Africa Cup of Nations history. But Tunisia still have an impressive array of forward talent in Yassine Chikhaoui, Silva dos Santos and Amine Chermiti, though the latter is yet to hit form. This North vs West Africa battle should be evenly matched and hard-fought.

We’ll be LiveBlogging both games as part of our exhaustive (and exhausting) coverage over on World Cup Blog. Here are the LiveBlog links, where you’ll also find Pulitzer worthy previews (well, they’re pretty good) and links to online streams for all you pirate-enthusiasts out there.

Angola vs Egypt - Africa Cup of Nations Quartefinal LiveBlog (1700 GMT, 1200 EST)

Cameroon vs Tunisia - Africa Cup of Nations Quartefinal LiveBlog (2030GMT, 1530 EST)