After ousting Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt will meet a familiar foe in the semi-finals. Abeer Anwar reports It will be Egypt vs Algeria in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations as the two North African powerhouses resume their football rivalry. Egypt blasted Cameroon in the quarter-finals 3-1 while in the same stage Algeria came from behind to edge out Cote d'Ivoire 3-2. Nigeria will play Ghana also on Thursday 28 January in an all-west African clash with the chance to face the winner of Egypt and Algeria in the final on Sunday 31 January. The victory on Monday against Cameroon got for Egypt a rematch with Algeria, the team that knocked it out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Egyptian-Algerian encounter undoubtedly brings back bitter memories of last November's World Cup playoff and aftermath in Sudan where Algerian and Egyptian fans clashed on the streets of Omdurman. Several Egyptians were injured. Algeria edged Egypt 1-0 to book a place in world football's showpiece event. On Monday in Cairo, however, those dark days seemed long ago as café shops were filled with Egyptians watching the match with Cameroon, cheering and waving flags after Egypt marched to the semi- finals. "We expect a lot of people to be here, cheering for Egypt to win," said Amr, a local cafe owner in Cairo, before the Cameroon game. He said much of the cheering will be for a rematch with the Algerians. "They embarrassed us and they are going to South Africa, but at least we can get some kind of revenge." The loss in November left Egyptians stunned. The two-time defending African champions had expected to breeze through World Cup qualifying, but some early stumbles led to their eventual fall. Now, as the ACN enters its final stages, Egyptians are once again coming together over football and looking to the future. "We can be the best team in Africa, we just have to prove it," said Gamal Dessouky, a 33-year-old taxi driver. Before the game, Dessouky described Cameroon as a good team "and we should be careful, but we beat them before in the African cup and I think we can do it again and show the world that Egypt is a nation for football." Dessouky also expressed his desire to play Algeria again. He said that the loss last year was hard to take and then "the violence which took place after the match as well left us even more disappointed." But, he says, there will be no violence this time around, "because Egypt will show Algeria who the better team and nation is." Not everybody was keen, however, to meet up with Algeria again. Another taxi driver, a burly fellow named Boulis, thought it best to avoid the clash. "Suppose we lose? Then what? Two knocks on the head are not good." The Pharaohs are currently riding a historic 17- match winning streak at the ACN and are hoping to build on their already unprecedented two championships in a row. Should they reach the final, they will play either Nigeria or Ghana for a record third consecutive crown. Nigeria will face Ghana in the semi- finals after it beat Zambia 5-4 in a penalty shootout. Standing in Egypt's way of making it a hat-trick of titles was a Cameroon side which had yet to play anywhere near their best in this tournament. While Egypt sailed through the group stages with three wins from three, the Indomitable Lions lost to Gabon, struggled to a win over Zambia and managed to draw with Tunisia 2-2. Cameroon had in four matches only managed a draw at home against the six-time African champions. However, Monday's match against the Indomitable Lions was as tough as they come. The game was a repeat of the 2008 final in Ghana, when a Rigobert Song mistake led to a single goal for Egypt, allowing it to claim a second-successive continental crown. On Monday, Egypt started pensively, mostly defending harmless long ball crosses. But an Emana corner skimmed off of captain Ahmed Hassan's head for an own goal on the 26th minute. Hassan, playing in an African record 170th international, quickly atoned on the 37th minute when his over 30-metre volley bounced once before eluding goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. Cameroon became desperate for the winner and more than once beat the offside trap but goalkeeper Essam El-Hadiri's experience showed. The second half witnessed three golden opportunities by Egyptian striking duo Emad Meteb and Mohamed Zidan but all went begging. On the other hand, Cameroon pushed hard for close to 30 minutes but without posing a real threat. Coach Hassan Shehata hoped to change things around by replacing Zidan with Mohamed Nagi Gedo, one of the finds of the tournament. In the first minute of extra time, Gedo did not disappoint, slipping the ball into the goal after intercepting a dreadful Geremi back pass for his third ACN goal. Three minutes later, Hassan made it 3-1 when his blast, even farther way than the first, ricocheted off Kameni's fists onto the right post. The referee adjudged it a goal but TV replays showed the ball did not cross the line. The two goals stunned Cameroon and effectively put an end to the match that had for most of the time Cameroon attacking and Egypt scoring. Cameroon's Aurelien Chedjou was shown the red card towards the end, signifying Cameroonian frustration. Shawki Gharib , Egypt's assistant coach, said Cameroon was a great team. "We played well and we knew what we needed to do to win. "There is no game without errors, and the referee was fair with both teams." "I am very happy because we won today," Hassan said. "We played a great game and I am particularly pleased to have scored two goals, and further improved my record. "This was the most important win for the Egyptian team and for all Egyptians," said Hassan. "We are very happy now but we must now prepare ourselves well for Algeria. I hope for a good match with Algeria." Captain Samuel Eto'o was full of praise for his colleagues in the wake of their second third successive defeat at the hands of the Pharaohs since 2008. He told cafonline.com, "This is football. Today, I believed we delivered a great game and we deserved a different result than the defeat. But we played and Egypt has won." Refusing to argue about Egypt's seemingly debatable third goal, he insisted they gave a good account of themselves at the tournament. Before the match Eto'o did not promise qualification to the last four, but said he hoped the Indomitable Lions would bring to an end a five-year-old winless run against the Pharaohs from Egypt. "We will continue to work hard and stay focussed. We will put up a big fight, but I'm not God to say we will win," he said. Cameroon's coach Paul Le Guen abruptly left the post-game press conference without saying a word. To get to the semi-final, Algeria played their best football at the tournament as they eliminated pre- tournament favourites Cote d'Ivoire 3-2 in an action- packed quarter-final in Cabinda on Sunday. Victory over The Elephants sent The Desert Foxes into the semi-final of the Nations Cup for the first time since 1990 and the fifth time in their history. Writes the BBC: It took just four minutes for this thrilling encounter to come to life and it was Salomon Kalou who struck to give the Ivorians the lead, but five minutes before half time Algeria were level when Karim Matmour struck the equaliser. The game's real drama happened in the final minutes of the second half, as on 89 minutes Kader Keita spectacularly shot the Ivorians in front again. Algeria drew level in stoppage time when Madjid Bougherra headed a second goal for the Desert Foxes. Two minutes into extra time and Hameur Bouazza scored the fifth goal of the match, another headed goal as he was on the end of Karim Ziani's cross from the left. The Elephants were on the march early on when just four minutes in Yaya Toure attempted a cheeky back heel to get Kalou clear on the edge of the Algerian penalty area. Halliche blocked his initial effort, but the ball luckily came back to Toure and he shot for goal, beating Chaouchi at his near post from 12 yards. On the half-hour mark Belhadj went on another marauding run down the wing and sent in a dangerous looking ball towards goal. Boubacar Barry ran off his goal line and dived forward to smother the ball at the feet of Algerian strikers Saif Ghezzal and Karim Matmour. Algeria kept up the pressure on the Ivorians and they were rewarded for their efforts as Yazid Mansouri sent in a looping ball from the halfway line which fell to Matmour. He got the ball past the lunging Tiote and quickly turned, facing the goal, hitting the ball ferociously from 16 yards past Barry. Algeria were creating the more clear-cut chances at the start of the second half, as was the case in the 55th minute when Mourad Meghni demonstrated his playmaking abilities as he threw up a long looping pass to Matmour from the halfway line. Matmour in turn made contact with the ball, but sent his volley from a few yards from goal over the crossbar. The play moved to the other end of the field and in the 57th minute it was the Ivorians turn to be on the attack. Didier Drogba dispossessed Bougherra of the ball and got Kalou clear on goal. With the goal in his sights, Kalou tried to curl the ball round Chaouchi, but missed the target by a matter of inches. Matmour had the opportunity to score a second goal on 68 minutes as he created a route to goal by dispossessing Ivorian defender Souleymane Bamba, who hesitated when clearing his lines, and stormed into the Ivorian penalty-area before shooting for goal. Barry waited for Matmour to let fly at goal before diving at full-stretch to his left to block the ball. Kader Keita, seconds after entering the field as a substitute for Cote d'Ivoire, played a perfect ball to split the Algerian back line and had teammate Gervinho clear on goal. But the top striker from Ligue 1 in France hit the ball and sent it over Chaouchi's goal. In the final minute of regulation time, Keita picked up a loose ball and crashed the ball with a thunderous left foot drive from 25 metres into the top right corner of Chaouchi's goal to send the Ivorian fans into delirium. As Cote d'Ivoire celebrated, Algeria fought back and Bougherra was on the end of a long ball from the left, heading the ball downwards past Barry in the first minute of referee's optional time. Bamba must take blame as he allowed Bougherra to roam in the danger area unchecked. Algeria hit the Ivorians early on in extra time and took the lead for the first time in the match in the 92nd minute. Ziani floated the ball from the left towards goal and it travelled all the way to the back where his teammate Bouazza was on hand to head the ball past Barry. Once again it was poor marking from Bamba which lead to the Ivorians conceding a goal. In the 98th minute, Drogba muscled himself clear of the Algerian defence and went for goal unleashing a powerful shot from around 20 yards, but Chaouchi was up to the challenge and dived to his left to parry the ball down. Kolo Toure scored what looked like a legitimate goal in optional time at the end of the game but the referees' assistant wrongly ruled that he was in an offside position when he took possession of the ball. It was not to be Cote d'Ivoire's night. A day earlier Ghana toughed it out to claim a place in the semi-finals, showing remarkable resilience to hold out for a 1-0 win over hosts Angola in Luanda in the first quarter-final on Sunday evening. However, said cafonline.com, the Black Antelopes will be kicking themselves for missing several great chances to level the scores after Asamoah Gyan had put the West Africans into a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. The Black Stars' goal was created by Kwadwo Asamoah, who put his striker free on goal with a sublime ball -- surely the best pass of the tournament. The goal stunned the home crowd into silence after what had been a confident opening from Manuel Jose's team, with Flavio and Manucho looking likely to trouble a Ghana defence that looked pretty shaky in the opening 10 minutes. Centre-back Lee Addy had a couple of nervy moments, almost scoring two own goals, but he grew in stature as the game went on and was simply magnificent as Angola threw everything but the kitchen sink at Ghana in the dying minutes. But even with Addy's terrific performance and the manful defensive efforts of all of the Black Stars' players, the hosts still created a handful of scoring chances from which an equalising goal should have been scored. Manucho, in particular, had three gilt-edged chances. The tall striker saw his diving header in the first half pushed away by Richard Kingson, and just before the break he shot over the bar with the keeper out of position after Flavio had battled brilliantly with two defenders in the penalty area. His third chance was created by Job -- who added some real spark in the wide areas for Angola when he came on just before the hour mark -- but Manucho again was unable to hit the target. How Manuel Jose must have been wishing it was Flavio who was on the end of that ball, as the shorter striker -- ironically -- seems to be more proficient in finishing off headed opportunities than his lanky partner. In the end it was these missed chances that cost Angola a place in the semi-finals. Not that Ghana will be complaining. Jose carried a personal tragedy into Sunday's game after his father passed away just hours before the match. Jose bravely decided to carry out his duties for the match despite the death of his father, who was in his 90s. "I have to fly back to Portugal now to attend the funeral of my father who has died," Jose told the post- match press conference after the 1-0 defeat. A minute silence was held before the match, both for the 150,000 confirmed victims of the Haiti earthquake, and for Jose's father. Additional reporting by Yomna Mostafa
