By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo

Cameroon and Rwanda will on November 17 confront each other in the second day of play of the 2021 Africa Nations Cup, AFCON.

After the first outing staged last Wednesday November 13, Cameroon and Rwanda will not leave any stone unturned during their clash.

Despite booking their place at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations as the tournament hosts, the Indomitable Lions played out a goalless draw with Cape Verde Islands in their opener, and it is more than obvious that they will be heading into the next qualifying match with the desire to satisfy their fans considering their last match.

It is true that the PSG ace Jean-Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting failed to impress in the goalless draw with Cape Verde Islands, but the opposition defenders should have him at bay.

Rwanda, on the other hand, suffered a 0-2 defeat in their first match against Mozambique. Their first outing seems to have a lot of unanswered questions but November 17 can just be the lucky day for them. 

While Cameroon has a better football history their current state leaves much to be desired. In fact, anything can happen.

Both sides will be meeting for the eight time and Cameroon have dominated all the matches registering four wins in seven encounters. Rwanda has never won a match but has helped to hold Cameroon in three draws.

Consequently, Rwanda will be coming into the game next Sunday with determination to record their first win over Cameroon and secure hopes of qualifying for the 2021 Total AFCON. Statistics have proven that smaller football nations are a hard knock for Cameroon to crack.

Rwanda will also be coming to reduce the goal gap that Cameroon have inflicted on them since their confrontations started in the late 60s. In seven confrontations, Cameroon have scored 15 goals while Rwanda has scored only two.

The last time both teams faced each other was on January 6, 2016 during an international friendly. The two teams played a separated on a 1-1 parity. Before that encounter the two sides had only confronted each other in 2007 where Cameroon beat them 2-1 in the AFCON.

Rwanda played six matches last year and registered two wins, three draws, and one loss. In percentage terms, they won 33%, drawn 50%, and lost 16% of their recent matches.