Ahmed Hassan celebrated his appearances milestone in style, scoring twice to give Egypt a 3-1 victory over Cameroon after extra time and a place in the African Cup of Nations semi final on Monday. The Egypt skipper, who was making an Egyptian and African record of 170 international appearances, initially scored for the wrong team, his own goal gifting Cameroon the lead after 26 minutes. He made amends 11 minutes later to equalize as the match went into extra time after both sides failed to find the net in the second half. Few minutes into the first period of extra time, substitute Mohamed Nagi 'Geddo' once again rose to the occasion after he made the most of a dreadful blunder from Geremi to put Egypt ahead for his third goal in the tournament. Hassan put the result beyond doubt few minutes later through a controversial free-kick as the Pharaohs edged closer to winning an unprecedented third consecutive title. The six-time African champions, who extended their unbeaten record to 17 games, will face fierce rivals Algeria in the semi final on Thursday. Cautious Start Both sides were cautious in the early stages of the game but gradually upped the tempo. Forward Achille Emana, who was given the nod ahead of Pierre Webo, repeatedly whipped his corners to the near post until one of them gave Cameroon the lead on 26 minutes. Hassan, Egypt's most consistent performer in the tournament, tried to clear it but headed it back into his own net instead. Egypt's attempts to restore parity were not helped by the failure of strike duo Emad Meteb and Mohamed Zidan to unsettle Cameroon's defense, with their sluggish moves unable to mount any threats. They needed a piece of individual skill from Hassan, who atoned for his own goal, to level the score in the 37th minute.
Hassan sets new record The veteran midfielder fired a fierce right-footed shot that bounced in front of Cameroon keeper Carlos Kameni and went into the bottom corner. He celebrated his goal by waving a shirt with the number 170 written on its back, referring to the international caps he earned to surpass Egypt's all-time leading scorer Hossam Hassan. Wasteful Attack Egypt could have gone ahead early in the second half but squandered several clear-cut opportunities. Keeper Essam Al-Hadari launched a huge ball upfield which eluded defender Aurelien Chedjou and found Meteb, who couldn't beat Kameni from inside the area. Few minutes later, Zidan robbed the below-par Chedjou and broke clear but his shot was palmed away by Kameni. Egypt eased off afterwards to allow Cameroon to take control and lay siege to their opponents' area, although they hardly created goalscoring opportunities. Despite Cameroon's domination, Egypt could have snatched the winner one minute from time when a neat long ball from the evergreen Hassan picked out Meteb but he shot poorly wide at the far post. In the 92nd minute, Geddo, who was introduced instead of Zidan before the end of the normal time, maintained his superb displays off the bench to put Cameroon on the back foot. He pounced on a short back-pass from Geremi to go clear and place the ball through the legs of Kameni. Hassan effectively killed the game when the referee adjudged his curling free-kick to have crossed the line after Kameni pushed it onto the post although TV replays showed it did not. Cameroon finished with ten men when Chedjou was dispossessed once again, this time by Geddo, to trip him while he was going one-on-one with Kameni and earn a red card.
