BY MUYIWA AKINTUNDE

One of the two perennial rivals in the continent will bow out of Egypt 2019 this evening. Nigerians are hoping the victims would be the defending champions, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

In the quarterfinal pairings of the ongoing tournament, Nigeria versus Cameroon is the second most frequent in AFCON history, next to Ghana against Tunisia.

This is the seventh head-to-head clashes between the neighbours while Ghana and Tunisia will be going after each others jugular for the eighth time on Monday.

Cameroon won the first three of their five African titles beating Nigeria in the final on each occasion – 1984 in Abidjan, 1988 in Rabat and 2000 in Lagos.

But the most painful and unforgettable of Cameroon’s triumphs over their neighbours was right in front of 60,000 vibrant fans when Nigeria co-hosted the 22nd AFCON with Ghana

In the epic final at the National Stadium in Surulere, the Lions silenced the home crowd within the first 31 minutes with goals by Patrick M’Boma and Samuel Eto’o Fils.

But Raphael Ndukwe Chukwu, then a striker with South African club Mamelodi Sundowns got one back on the dot of 45 minutes while Austin JayJay Okocha levelled up two minutes after the restart. In the ensuing penalty shootouts that followed the deadlock, Nigeria lost 3-4 with the penalty miss of Victor Nosa Ikpeba the most agonising.

Perhaps if VAR had then been introduced and applied, that goal would have stood and Nigeria would have lifted the trophy.

Nigeria had their own pound of flesh in Senegal 1992 beating Cameroon 2-1 to win the bronze medal and also in the quarterfinal of Tunisia 2004 winning 2-1.

 Both sides settled for 1-1 at the group stage before meeting in the final of Morocco 1988.

Since that year 2000 agonising episode, the Indomitable Lions have never had the upper hand over the Super Eagles.

Most recently, Nigeria walloped their rivals 4-0 on September 1, 2017 and forced 1-1 in Yaounde three days later on their way to 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

In 22 previous encounters, Cameroon have prevailed only four times, three of them most significant.

In Egypt 2019, Nigeria and Cameroon have failed to live up to their pre-tournament ratings.

The Super Eagles struggled to lone goal victories over Burundi and Guinea and then got shamed 0-2 by Madagascar to finish second in a group they were expected to dominate. 

Cameroon, on their part, managed to deliver two second half goals to overcome Guinea-Bissau in their opening match. They then suffered goal drought playing goalless against Ghana and Benin Republic and ending up as runners-up in Group F.

Having not scored in their respective last match, Nigeria and Cameroon have to either rediscover their way to the net or go through the agony of penalty shootouts.

Later in the day, hosts Egypt will be challenged by South Africa, one of the third placed teams at the group stage.

Both sides have met only twice in AFCON with the Pharaohs winning both. At the group stage of South Africa 1996, Egypt did not spare their hosts and won 1-0.

By that time however, the Bafana Bafana had already qualified for the knockout stages as Group A winners having defeated Cameroon (3-0) and Angola (1-0), and would later travel all the way to win the title.

Egypt denied South Africa a successful defence of that title in Burkina Faso 1998 as they won 2-0 in the final.

In all meetings however, South Africa have the advantage over Egypt winning six and drawing one in 11 competitive and friendly clashes.

In Egypt 2019, the hosted finished the group stage unblemished. With no goal conceded and three wins out of three matches, they landed in the last 16 ahead of their final first round game; prolific striker Mohamed Salah and Mahmoud ‘Trezeguet’ Hassan delivering.

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On the contrary, South Africa did not have a single goal attempt in defeats to Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco in Group D while they beat neighbours Namibia by their only goal of Egypt 2019.

The winners of these matches will square up in the quarterfinals.