Cameroon defeats Burkina Faso after a simple opening ceremony for the 2022 African Nations | Football

Cameroon won the first match in the 33rd edition of the African Nations Cup, with a precious 2-1 victory over Burkina Faso on Sunday, and this came after a simple opening ceremony for the tournament hosted by Cameroon until the sixth of next February.

The Burkinabe team was the first to score through Gustavo Sangari in the 24th minute, to be the first goal of this edition of the African Nations Cup.

⚽️🥅 Burkina Faso surprised everyone and advanced with a superb goal through Gustavo Sangari#African Cup of Nations #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 pic.twitter.com/cCt2ceucDy

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) January 9, 2022

But the Cameroonian team responded with two goals scored by Abu Bakr from two penalty kicks in the 40th and third minutes of overtime for the first half.

In the second half, the two teams failed to translate the chances they had into goals, so the match ended with the same result as the first half.

The Cameroonian team (the Untamed Lions) topped the first group early after collecting its first three points in the tournament, awaiting the result of the other match in the group, which is also taking place today between Ethiopia and Cape Verde.

Cameroon is hosting the tournament for the second time only in its history, as it previously hosted the eighth edition in 1972, which the Congolese team won the title, and the Cameroon team came third in that edition.

The Cameroonian team is looking to take advantage of the establishment of this edition in his country to crown the sixth title and reduce the difference with the Egyptian team, which has the record number of times to win the African title (seven titles).

The Cameroonian team has previously won the African Cup of Nations five times in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017, while the best result of the Burkinabe team in the African Nations Cup was to occupy the second place in the 2013 edition.

opening ceremony

The match between Cameroon and Burkina Faso came after a simple opening ceremony for the tournament at Paul Biya Stadium in the capital, Yaounde.

The ceremony was attended by Cameroonian President Paul Biya and his wife, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe, Cameroon Federation President Samuel Eto’o, and a number of other officials and African football stars.

🦁 The Cameroonian lion wakes up and walks as a king at the opening ceremony#African Cup of Nations #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 pic.twitter.com/CPdvQjjJsS

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) January 9, 2022

The ceremony began with playing some musical pieces, then a military parade with words by some officials. A large model of the championship cup was placed in the middle of the stadium, then a lion appeared roaming over the stadium before appearing inside the floor using modern design techniques.

And 500 presentations were presented that express the culture of the Cameroonian people, and all the flags of all the countries participating in the tournament were displayed.

It is noteworthy that the tournament includes 24 teams and will witness a public presence after the African Union agreed that the fans attend the matches of the Cameroonian team at 80% of the stadium’s capacity, and that the fans attend 60% of the stadium’s capacity in the rest of the matches.