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‘No one can stop us’

Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou has said the Elephants are the best team of the 2008 Africa Nations Cup semi-finalists and no team can stop them in their quest.

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Ahead of their semifinal against Egypt, Ivory Coast striker Kalou says they are the best team in the tournament

KUMASI: Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou has said the Elephants are the best team of the 2008 Africa Nations Cup semi-finalists and no team can stop them in their quest to land their second continental crown.

The Ivorians clash with five-time champions Egypt here Thursday night in the second semi-final of the 2008 Nations Cup. The encounter is a rematch of the final of the 2006 edition of the competition which the Pharaohs won 4-2 on penalties in front of their highly partisan home fans who jammed the Cairo International Stadium.

“If we play as a team, no one can stop us,” boasted the Chelsea forward, who at the time of the 2006 final was battling to get Dutch citizenship so as to play for his adopted country. “Our goal is to win the cup. Egypt now stand in our way and we just have to beat them if we want to keep alive our dream of winning the competition. There’s no such thing as revenge in football as both teams are not the same as they were two years ago.”

He added, “Egypt have looked a very strong team at this tournament and so we expect a very difficult game because they have good players who can make a difference in a game and unlike a team like Guinea, they will not sit back in defence and wait for us to attack them.”

Kalou has marked his Nations Cup debut with three goals thus far, same as Chelsea teammate and the team’s inspirator-in-chief, Didier Drogba.

The Ivory Coast, whose only triumph in this biennial tournament was achieved 16 years ago in Senegal at the expense of the Black Stars of Ghana, will again go into this explosive tie without Arsenal centre-half Kolo Toure, who is yet to regain fitness since his groin injury in a group game against Benin. Egypt, on the other hand, are sweating on the fitness of Hamburg striker Mohamed Zidan, who picked up an ankle injury during the warm-up moments before the quarter-final against Angola on Monday.

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