Aboubakar and Toko-Ekambi hold key to Afcon success for Cameroon

Forget Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane, because the most prolific strikers at this Africa Cup of Nations are the two players leading the attack for the hosts as they face Egypt in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar is the tournament's top marksman with six, while Karl Toko-Ekambi scored both goals for the Indomitable Lions in their 2-0 quarter-final win over Gambia to move onto five altogether.

Between them they have scored every one of Cameroon's 11 goals so far at the Cup of Nations, the duo emerging as the key men five years after playing bit-part roles in the side that won the title in Gabon.

In 2017 both were used almost exclusively from the bench, although Aboubakar came on as a substitute to score the winner in the final against Egypt.

"In 2017 I played a bit less but still helped the others in training and during games," recalled Toko-Ekambi after his match-winning display in the quarter-final.

"Now the roles are reversed and it is the same for Aboubakar too, although the main thing is that the squad gets on well together, that we play well and that we win."

It would be grossly unfair to reduce Cameroon's success so far solely to the two forwards, with Collins Fai starring at right-back and midfielders Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Martin Hongla both outstanding.

"They are the finishers but their goals are the result of the work put in by everyone," says the coach, Toni Conceicao.

The role model

Aboubakar is a star throughout Cameroon, albeit he may never be worshipped in the same way Roger Milla or Samuel Eto'o were before him.

However he is certainly a hero in his native Garoua, the main city in the north of the country.

"Before Aboubakar people didn't really believe that the region might produce