Cameroon will begin their quest for a record-equaling fifth Africa Cup of Nations title today with a Group C clash against defending champions Egypt, the tournament's most successful team who denied them a place at the 2006 World Cup.
In October 2005, Cameroon needed to win their final qualifier for a place in the World Cup but could only force Egypt to a 1-1 draw, a result which paved the way for Ivory Coast to feature at their first-ever finals.
Cameroon then put that failure behind them as they won their first five matches in a Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group that included Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia to book a place at these finals.
Cameroon will be led by coach Otto Pfister, who has replaced Jules Nyongha, himself a replacement for frustrated Dutch coach Arie Haan.
A familiar face in African soccer, the 70-year old German is widely-traveled, having coached the national teams of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Sudan, Rwanda, DR Congo, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
The Indomitable Lions' job is regarded as one of the toughest in Africa.
His achievements in Africa include the 1991 under-17 World Cup title with Ghana and several domestic and continental titles with Zamalek of Egypt.
"It is certainly one of the highlights of my career to handle a team like Cameroon," Pfister said. "And now if we can avoid injuries, we have a good chance to win the trophy for the fifth time. That would be most fulfilling."
Cameroon and Egypt have clashed a total of 21 times with the Pharaohs coming out on top in the head-to-head table, winning on nine occasions while seven have been drawn.
The 2000 Olympic champions have often been derided for parading a team of ageing stars but a younger generation of players, such as the nephew of skipper Rigobert Song, Alexandre, Reading defender Andre Bikey and Olympic team star Landry Nguemo are slowly making their way into the main team.
Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o remains the star of the team.
The three-time African Player of the Year has shown he has fully recovered from a thigh injury he suffered in September with a couple of goals on his recent return to action.
With 24 goals in 60 appearances for the Lions, many more goals will be expected from this proven scorer as he aims to surpass Cameroon's all-time international record of 33 goals set by Patrick Mboma.
Crowned champions of Africa in Burkina Faso 10 years ago, Egypt return to west Africa hoping for more success.
Besides their dismal showing in Senegal in 1992, past records have shown that the Egyptians have a good track record playing in this sub-region.
They reached the semi-finals in 1980 (hosted by Nigeria), 1984 (Ivory Coast) and finished fifth both in 2000 (Ghana/Nigeria) and 2002 (Mali).
Unlike group rivals Cameroon, the road to Ghana was not plain sailing for Hassan Shehata's men and the unconvincing manner of securing a ticket only on the last day of the campaign was very much uncharacteristic of the five-time champions.
Egypt are favored to advance to the quarter-finals even though they will be without several key players like Middlesbrough striker Mido, Mohamed Barakat and Hossam Ghaly, who has chosen club over country.
The Pharaohs star attraction is captain Ahmed Hassan, who was voted the best player at the last tournament on home soil two years ago.
However, the Anderlecht midfielder will miss this opening match after he bagged a three-match ban for attacking an opponent during a goalless draw with Burundi in September.
The ban was later reduced to two matches on appeal and he has already served out half of the sanction.
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