Female AFCON - Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea Showdown

The Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon will today take on the 'Nzalang Nacional' of Equatorial Guinea in the semi-finals of the on-going African Women's Championship. Cameroon qualified for the semi-finals by a hair's breadth thanks to the victory of Nigeria over Cote d'Ivoire and a goalless draw against Ethiopia. Cameroon emerged second in group B with four points after having conceded a 1-2 defeat to Nigeria, recording a 4-1 victory against Cote D'Ivoire, and a zero-all-tie against little rated Ethiopia.

Meanwhile the Nzalang Nacional sailed through the group stage in flying colours winning all three group matches. They edged South Africa 1-0, walloped the Democratic Republic of Congo 6-0 and again trounced Senegal 5-0 to conserve a clean sheet in the tournament. Hence, Equatorial Guinea will be going in for the encounter as favourites and more so, they will be playing in front of their home crowd in Malabo. The Lionesses will therefore have an uphill task to clinch a place in the final as Equatorial Guinea will be a hard nut to crack.

The match will also smack of revenge as the bulk of the Equatorial Guinea team is made of Cameroonians. In fact, eight of the players are Cameroonians who decided to change their nationalities due to the levity with which feminine football in treated in Cameroon and incentives given by the Equatorial Guinea government to feminine football. For instance, while Cameroon is giving a special bonus of one million for each match won, Equatorial Guinea is giving five millions.

Cameroon is still gunning for their first continental title in that category while Equatorial Guinea are aiming for their second continental title after having organised and won the tournament in 2010. Speaking on the CAF website, the coach of Equatorial Guinea, Argentinean born Esteban Becker said he was confident his team will sail through to their third consecutive final, saying Cameroon is the side to panic. While the coach of the Lionesses, Enow Ngachu believes this is Cameroon's turn to lift the trophy despite all odds. There will therefore be fireworks when both sides clash today in Malabo.