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Cameroon's Indomitable Lions face Mali in 2015 Afcon

Xinhua, January 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Action in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will shift to the Malabo Stadium on Tuesday to witness two games against tough West African teams.

Led by the African player of the year, Yaya Toure who also features for English Premier Manchester City, Ivory Coast will play Guinea in the first Group D game. The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will then line against Mali.

Cameroon who have won the Afcon title four times are favourites to run over Mali. The Indomitable Lions who have accommodated younger players since the retirement of star player Sameul Eto'o after the 2014 World Cup have showed that they have what it takes to challenge for the title.

With the likes of France based Benjamin Moukandjo, Clinton Njie and Eric Maxim Choupo-moting who features for Schlke 04 in the Germany Bundesliga, Cameroon on paper have a strong team to override Mali.

The second game will see the star studded Ivory Coast team come all out to prove a point. Herve Renard, the Ivory Coast head coach said they will not rely a lot of the England based players Toure and Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure at the Nations Cup.

"We need to build a team capable of working well together instead of depending on a few others. That is the most important thing in football, not names," said Herve who won the Afcon title with Zambia in 2012.

After the retirement of former skipper Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast will have to strive to carry them themselves past Guinea before they face tricky Cameroon in one of the Group D matches.

Guinea who had to struggle to beat Uganda 2-0 in the last game of the 2015 Afcon qualifiers will miss injured attacking midfielder Idrissa Sylla, but will look to Ibrahima Tarore, Naby Keita and England based defender Kamil Zayatte. Endite