Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire clash in CHAN quarter-final cracker

SaturdayCameroon vs Côte dIvoire, 6pm - SS9/RTV As the knockout stage for the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) gets underway, Huye Stadium will host the second quarter-final clash between archrivals Cameroon and Côte dIvoire on Saturday evening. Both are massive footballing nations but none has previously advanced past this stage in the continent’s second biggest international competition, which is reserved for only players featuring in their respective domestic leagues. The Indomitable Lions finished unbeaten and top of Group B with 7 points, one point ahead of DR Congo and will seek to use pitch familiarity against The Elephants. Côte dIvoire, who finished as runners-up in Group A, behind hosts Rwanda, also got the chance to play their final group game at the same stadium against Gabon, which they went on to win 4-1. Looking at head-to-head statistics for these two nations since the 1970 African Cup of Nations, they have met 18 times in all competitions, including friendlies of which both sides have won eight times each and drawn two – interestingly, there has been only one goalless draw. Their last encounter was during the 2015 African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, which Cameroon won 1-0, however, Ivory Coast bounced back and went on to win the tournament. Both teams don’t have a good record in CHAN tournament. Côte dIvoire hosted the inaugural edition in 2009 but were eliminated in the group stage after finishing bottom of their group that also included Zambia, Senegal and Tanzania. They again crashed out in the group stage of the second edition hosted in Sudan after finishing third in Group D that had Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali. And they failed to qualify for the last edition held in South Africa. Likewise, Cameroon have only been in this tournament once before (2011) and were brushed aside by Angola in quarter-finals 8-7 in post-match penalty shoot-outs after a goalless draw in regular time. Meanwhile, hosts Rwanda will today come up against archrivals DR Congo in the first quarter-final at Amahoro National Stadium. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire clash in CHAN quarter-final cracker