Cameroon beat Burkina Faso in Africa Cup of Nations opening
2 Min Read
During the Africa Cup of Nations' opening match between Cameroon and Burkina Faso, Cameroon's Captain Vincent Aboubakar becomes the first player to score two goals in the Cup opener since 2010.
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This is the perfect start for Cameroon as they seek to win their sixth continental title on home soil.
Cameroon's national football team Captain Vincent Aboubakar scored two penalties and helped his hosting country beat Burkina Faso's national team 2-1 in the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations in Yaounde on Sunday.
Initially, Gustavo Sangare had given Burkina Faso the lead in the Group A match at the Olembe Stadium, but after a VAR review, Aboubakar equalized the score in the 40th minute.
The 29-year-old scored again another penalty near the end of the first half and was denied a third goal in the second half by an offside flag after the break, becoming the first player to score two goals in an Africa Cup of Nations opener since Angola's Flávio Amado and Mali's Seydou Keïta goals in 2010.
ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS ☝️ 📖
— #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 🏆 (@CAF_Online) January 9, 2022
🇨🇲 Vincent Aboubakar is the first player to score a brace in a #TotalEnergiesAFCON opener since 🇦🇴 Flávio Amado and 🇲🇱 Seydou Keïta in 2010! 🔝#TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 | #TeamCameroon pic.twitter.com/AL0StXoTNO
It is the perfect start for Cameroon as they seek to win their sixth continental title on home soil, with Cameroon finally getting to host a tournament that was taken away from them in 2019 before being postponed a year ago due to the pandemic.
COVID restrictions limited the crowd at the Olembe Stadium to 80 percent of its 60,000 capacity, but that did not spoil the party for the hosts, as celebratory fireworks lit up the sky at full-time.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
