Cameroon's rising striker Franck Evina scored the winner as the Indomitable Lions beat Mali 1-0 on Monday to move a step closer from a birth in the semi finals of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations. Cameroon have moved to the top of Group A with four points before hosts Egypt, who won their first game against Mali, play Ghana later in the day. It was an evenly balanced game although Mali seemed the better team in the first half in terms of possession. Cameroon, led by legendary captain Rigobert Song, upped their game after the interval but still struggled to breakthrough the compact and versatile Malian defence. It came only to a moment of poor defending when the Malians failed to clear the danger from a free kick only to come into the path of Evina who made no mistake from close range. The 19-year old striker who plays for KFC Uerdingen 05 on loan from Bayern Munich proved to be Cameroon's deadliest weapon as he was also on target in their 1-1 draw against Ghana in their opening game on Friday. Cameroon will play Egypt on Thursday in the final game of the groupstage. The U23 Africa Cup of Nations is also qualifying for the Olympics 2020 as the top three teams in the tournament will book their tickets for Tokyo. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
