By Our Correspondent

On Thursday, Egypt senior males football team reached the final of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON in Cameroon, after overcoming host, Cameroon in the second semi-final match.

They will face Terenga Lions of Senegal who had 24 hours prior booked their own ticket for the final after a 3-1 victory over Burkina Faso

Reaching the final, Egypt played unusual 360 instead of 270 minutes of intensive football in just three matches to achieve their dream final.

Egypt is playing their second final in 4 years after they lost 2017 AFCON final 2-1 to Cameroon in Gabon.

The Pharaohs who started the competition with opening 1-0 defeat to Nigeria clawed their way back winning subsequent matches including Sudan and Guinea Bissau in Group stage before they played their knockout statge matches which all ended in 120 minutes be exhausted.

First, the needed penalty shootout to prevail over Cote D’Ivoire in the Round of 16, defeated fellow North Africans, Morocco 2-1 in extra time in the quarter-final before they scaled the hosts’ hurdle on Thursday, once again, after 120 minutes via spotkicks.

These are conditions Egypt winger, Mahmoud Trezeguet considered when he opined that the Pharaohs played against difficult circumstances to reach the final.

Trezeguet hailed the team for overcoming some tough circumstances to reach the African Cup of Nations final for the second time in three editions.

Egypt played an extra time for the third successive game following their shootout win over Cote d’Ivoire in the round of 16 and 2-1 comeback victory over Morocco in the quarters.

The team had to contend with some unfortunate circumstances, having lost some key players during the course of the tournament.

Regular right-back Akram Tawfik suffered a serious knee injury in the opening 1-0 loss to Nigeria before Egypt also lost first-choice keeper Mohamed El-Shennawi in the round of 16.

Experienced defender Ahmed Hegazi also was ruled out for the rest of the tournament after picking up a groin injury against Morocco.

“We played amid very hard circumstances but we managed to overcome all difficulties,” Trezeguet, who himself had just returned from a lengthy injury layoff ahead of the Nations Cup, told beIN Sports after the game on Thursday.

“We played 120 minutes for three straight games but we remained fully focused on getting the job done.”

The 27-year-old, who was a member of the Egypt team that lost the 2017 final against Cameroon, said the players had learned a lot from their previous experience and that they are ready to win the title.

“We will play against Senegal with a big determination as we learned from the loss to Cameroon in 2017,” he added.