The African Cup of Nations, hosted by Egypt, reached its final stages after the quarter-finals of the competition and four teams qualified for the semi-finals of Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria and Tunisia.
The quarter-finals of the tournament were held on Wednesday and Thursday, where Senegal won the Benin 1-0, Nigeria qualified after beating South Africa 2-1, and qualified after defeating Ivory Coast on penalties 4-3, Tunisia won the continental semi-finals after beating Madagascar 3-0.
The semi-finals are scheduled to take place on Sunday, with Tunisia playing Senegal at the air defense court, after which the Algerian team will meet Nigeria at the Cairo International Stadium.
The Tunisian and Algerian teams have the dreams of the Arab fans in the African Championship after qualifying for the semi-finals.
The road may be paved for an Arab final, for the third time in the history of African nations, if Tunisia succeed in beating Senegal, and Algeria will also beat Nigeria to bring the final match between the two Arab teams on Friday at the Cairo International Stadium.
It was the first time that there was a purely Arab standoff in the African Nations Cup final in 1959 in Egypt, where the finalists were collected between Egypt and Sudan. The Pharaohs then won 2-1 to win the title for the second time in a row.
The second and last time there were two Arab teams in the final of the African Nations was in the 2004 edition of the tournament in Tunisia, where the final between Tunisia, the host and the Moroccan team, was concluded with the victory of the "Carthage Eagles" 2-1.
| The only time Tunisia crowned the title in 2004 at home at the expense of Morocco (Reuters) |
Since the end of 2004, two Arab teams have not qualified for the African Nations final, which can be seen in the current 32nd edition in Egypt, where the Tunisian and Algerian teams have the opportunity to repeat it 15 years later.
Tunisia won the African Nations title once in 2004, twice in 1965 and 1996, third in 1962 and fourth in 1978 and 2000.
The Algerian team also won the African title once in the 1990 tournament held in Algeria, and won the title once again in 1980, won third place twice in 1984 and 1988, and the fourth place twice in 1982 and 2010.