Johannesburg – The Afcon 2022 is set for a twinkle in one’s eye, as the much-anticipated tournament will pull the continent’s sparks as all national teams will fight to walk victoriously at the last whistle in February, where the winner will be crowned.
The hosts, Cameroon, which has their newly elected football President Samuel Eto’o, who also captained the squad during his playing times, the lads will look forward to keep the momentum of reclaiming glory days for the Indomitable Lions.
Cameroon will face Burkina Faso in their opening match of the tournament at Olembé stadium.
In December last year, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe said, preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations would go ahead as planned in Cameroon from January 9 until February 6.
This is just after there were reports that the tournament might be postponed amid fears for the Covid-19’s Omicron variant.
The Indomitable Lions head coach Antonio ‘Toni’ Conceiçao said that his side is prepared for a bloodbath fight against their arch-rivals Burkina Faso.
Cameroon, saw 28 players been called up to the squad, as the Green, Yellow and Red side eagers to retain the Afcon trophy home.
With no surprise, Cameroon has been named amongst the national teams to be the favourites to walk away as the champions in February.
Conceiçao has recalled the team’s strongest local players, goalkeeper Narcisse Nlend and striker Lambert Areina, of Coton Sport de Garoua to beef up his squad.
Whereas, the visitors, Burkina Faso might give the hosts a heavy fight, as they will not troll easily to the lion’s den.
The Burkinabé comes to this tournament, with anger after failure to advance to the next round of World Cup Qualifiers.
Burkina Faso came in the second position in their group stage, following a hard-fought draw against under-fire Algeria.
Les Etalons will start their journey early on, clashing with hosts Cameroon in the opening game of the tournament.
While their opening game is a difficult one, Burkina will have two relatively easier games later in Group stage, facing Cape Verde and Ethiopia.
The Burkina Faso national team final squad announced to compete in the tournament included Ittihad of Alexandria’s Saidu Simporé and Pyramids’ Eric Traoré.
The match will kick off at 18:00 this coming Sunday.
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