Mali face tough battle against Cameroon

Bamako - Three of the top African soccer teams have reached the Cup of Nations semifinals, but it's host country Mali that will be trying to pull off the biggest upset when they face tournament favourites Cameroon on Thursday.

The defending champions, the continent's most successful World Cup side and three-time African Cup winners, have been perfect in the competition so far, winning all four of their games while scoring six goals and conceding none.

"Cameroon is the team to beat in this competition," Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o was quoted as saying in Mali's L'Essor newspaper. "I feel the finals are very close."

Cameroon, Fifa's 37th ranked team and No 4 in Africa, have qualified for the 2002 World Cup and are the defending Olympic champions.

The Indomitable Lions will face three-times World Cup champions Germany, Saudi Arabia and Ireland in Japan later this year.

Mali, who are ranked 104th in the world and 21st in Africa, have reached the championship's final just once, losing to the Republic of Congo in 1972.

They failed to reach Africa's final World Cup qualifying round.

Still, the players remain confident on home soil.

"We can beat any African team," said Mali's David Coulibaly.

Cameroon will rely on Patrick Mboma, who netted the winner on Monday against Egypt and is the reigning African player of the year, and Eto'o Mboma, who plays in Italy's Serie A with Parma, is also the tournament's leading scorer with three goals.

Eto'o plays in Spain with Mallorca.

Mali will be hoping Bassala Toure, who has scored two goals, including the first goal in the quarterfinal win over South Africa, will be up to the task.

The game is scheduled for 9pm (SA time) on Thursday evening.

In the other semifinal, two-times African Cup winners Nigeria meet Senegal, a team not used to being on the winning end of big games.

"Our aim was to at least reach the semifinals, and we succeeded," said Senegal's El-Hadji Diouf. "But we aren't afraid of Nigeria or any other team."

The Senegalese are likely to put up a fight at Keita stadium in Bamako, but the depth of the Super Eagles, who have two-times African player of the year Nwankwo Kanu and Julius Aghahowa up front, should prove to be too much.

Kanu, who plays for England's Arsenal, has yet to score in Mali, however, and Nigeria have scored just three goals in the competition.

Aghahowa has two of those goals.

"We came to Mali to win," said Super Eagles assistant coach Stephen Keshu. "Senegal has a good team, but I don't think they will be able to block Nigeria's path to the title."

The Dakar Lions, who also have not conceded a goal, have scored four, including a pair in the quarterfinal win over Congo (Zaire). Diouf, who plays in France with Lens, got one of them.

Nigeria still do not know if goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu, who was injured in a collision on Sunday, will play. Reserve keeper Murphy Akanji finished the quarterfinal match.

That game is scheduled to start at 6pm (SA time).

Nigeria and Senegal have also qualified for the World Cup. It will be Senegal's first appearance on world soccer's biggest stage.

The Super Eagles, who were drawn into the World Cup's "Group of Death" with Argentina, England and Sweden, became the first African team to win a major global tournament when they took the gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta six years ago.

Senegal, who have never made it past the semifinals of the African Cup, play defending champions France, Uruguay and Denmark in South Korea.

The final will be played at 6pm (SA time) on Sunday at the March 26 stadium. The third-place game is at 6pm on Saturday. - Sapa-AP