Pharaohs, Super Eagles Complete Cup of Nations Semis

If you were looking for well made goals, Monday's African Cup of Nations matches was not for you, with all four of the day's goals spurring wrinkled brows.

Egpyt's 3-1 win over Cameroon moved the Pharaohs one step closer to a historic three-peat.  Four times over the tournament's history (which dates back to 1957), teams have repeated as champions, but nobody has won three in a row.

Twice teams have made it to the finals in their quest for a third consecutive crown.  Egypt is now one step from an identical accomplishment.

In getting their, Egypt had to overcome a deficit when Ahmed Hassan headed a corner kick into his own next.  

The Egypt captain would make amends for his error with two goals, both dubious.  The first was a 35-meter shot that bounced about eight meters from goal.  Cameroon goalie Carlos Kameni misread the ball.  When the shot's topspin shot the ball over the leaning goalkeeper, Egypt had their equalizer.

The score would stay 1-1 through regulation.  Then Mohamed Gaddo took advantage of a terrible Geremi back pass to put Egypt up two minutes into extra time.  Hassan's second goal from a direct kick never actually made it over the line - with Kameni's block onto the underside of the crossbar having the ball bounce on the goal line - but no matter.  Egypt was awarded their third goal.

The win pushed the Pharaohs into the semifinals and another match with Algeria, the fourth time the rivals have met since June.  Algeria has won two of those meetings, their only loss coming in Cairo in November.  

Monday's other quarterfinal saw less action, ended nil-nil after extra time, but I've heard divergent accounts of the play.  At the onset, Zambia's defending was the story, limiting Nigeria to opportunities from distance while they made themselves dangerous on the counter.  As the match wore on, the opportunities became less frequent.  Depending on how you choose to characterize this, Zambia can be described ever-dangerous to increasingly conservative.  Regardless, Nigeria was unable to break them down.

After extra time, Zambia's fourth penalty kick was the only one saved, with Nigeria winning 5-4 on kicks after goalie Vincent Enyeama scored on the fifth kick.  

More analysis, after the jump.

Perhaps you could sense in my paragraph on Nigeria-Zambia, but I'm having trouble describing this match.  My initial reaction was to think of it like the second leg of the Barcelona-Chelsea, Champions' League semifinal.  Chelsea had most of the good opportunities in the second half and should have put the match away, but they were still played an incredibly defensive style.  I felt the same way about Zambia.  

Thus, I have make the mistake of saying the Chipolopolo were playing for kicks.  With time, I've remembered that played defensive and playing for kicks are two different things.  Herve Renard deserves some credit for his tactics, though in hindsight, he probably should have been slightly more ambitious.

Nigiera is through to the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six tournaments, though they have won none of those.  The Super Eagles still have a lot of work to do if they are going to break through.  Though they have won three in a row, they have yet to show the kind of form that could break down an Egypt or Algeria in the final.  And that is if they get through Ghana, whose midfield strength will be a very difficult match-up for the Nigerians.

The other semifinal is one that we both want and want to avoid.

In terms of pure inter-nation passion, Egypt and Algeria has turned into the greatest international rivalry in the world.  Throw out your arguments for Brazil-Argentina (or use the comments to bring up others), but the frequency and stakes of these country's last three meetings has built on an already rich footballing (and political) history, vaulting it to the top of the derby listings.

"Derby" seems like the wrong word.

The intensity of this rivalry conjures images of conflict amongst supporters.  We can only hope that everybody stays safe.

Tactically, this could be an intricate affair.  For some, intricate could mean boring.  Although the teams combined for three goals in their meeting in June, there have been only three goals scored in the last two matches, affairs that exhibited each team's strengths.  In Khartoum, Algeria got the first goal and strangled the Pharaohs, winning 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup.  

In Cairo four days earlier, Egypt got an early goal and a second, playoff-forcing tally in second half stoppage time.  But neither goal was well-made; rather, Egypt's resourcefulness was behind each.

On Thursday, we are going to see a tactical battle, where each side employs a series of subtly different approaches, trying to find a crack in the other's defense.  To this point in the series, Algeria's perseverance has been the difference, giving them their two wins.  But Egypt has not been eliminated from this tournament since 2004.

Of course, it was a 2-1 loss to Algeria in group play that played a major part in Egypt not advancing that year.