CHAN 2022: Cameroon – Niger Encounters at Level of Team of Local Players

The team of local players of Cameroon and Niger have met three times with Cameroon winning twice and Niger winning once. The match of January 24, 2023 will be their fourth head-to-head encounter.

April 1, 1981 was the first meeting of Cameroon and Niger where Cameroon dominated the latter with a 2 – 0 victory at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde. Since all players then played in their local leagues, it was a match of local players.

The next head-to-head meeting of Cameroon and Niger was on December 23, 2015 in an International Friendly. Then, the team of local players from Cameroon was already referred to as the Intermediate Lions. In this encounter, Cameroon defeated Niger 1 – 0. This was at the Général Seyni Kountché Stadium in Niger.

The Intermediate Lions failed to roar at Niger on January 4, 2021 during the Pre-CHAN tournament. They were humbled by Niger in a 2 -1 defeat at the Annex of the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.

From these analysis, the last game of the Intermediate Lions against the Mena of Niger ended in a defeat for the Lions hence, the Lions must roar back in this “special return leg”. Moreover, they need a win or at least a draw game if they must qualify for the quarter finals of the on-going African Nations Championship.

The highly anticipated match will be fielded at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Algeria on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 8pm.

Eleanor Ayuketah Ngochi on special assignment in Algeria