07 February 2004	Saturday	15 Zilhaj 1424

TUNIS, Feb 6: Old friends will become deadly foes on Saturday when Tunisia face Senegal and Mali clash with Guinea in the quarterfinals of the African Nations Cup.

At the country's showpiece 60,000-capacity Rades stadium, Roger Lemerre leads his Tunisia team into battle against the Senegalese who humiliated him when he was in charge of France at the 2002 World Cup.

Senegal are now coached by Guy Stephan who was Lemerre's assistant during that catastrophic Asian journey.

At the city's Mensah Stadium, Mali's Frederic Kanoute will be looking to get the better of Guinea counterpart Titi Camara with whom he shared a dressing room for two years when both men played for West Ham in England.

Senegal's famous win over Lemerre's defending world champions France in 2002 sent shockwaves throughout football, but both men have been keen this week to play down the significance of the game.

"This will be a match between Senegal and Tunisia, it is not a match between Roger Lemerre and Guy Stephan and I will find it a great pleasure to see him," said Stephan."

Lemerre has already had the satisfaction of seeing Tunisia beat Senegal in a friendly here last year and he, too, is trying to divert attention away from the possibility of another of his nights being ruined by the Lions of Teranga.

"The Senegalese had nothing to lose that night. It was a great challenge for them," said Lemerre as he reflected on the May 31, 2002, defeat in Seoul. "But it wasn't defeat against Senegal that eliminated France, it was the possibility of it happening to us again."

There will be some familiar faces lined up against Lemerre including El Hadji Diouf and Pape Bouba Diop, the creator and scorer of that famous World Cup goal.

Tunisia made the last eight as Group A winners and will be looking for Brazilian-born striker Silva dos Santos to add to his tally of three as they face a Senegal team which has yet to hit top gear in this tournament.

Defender Ferdinand Coly says Senegal have become victims of their own success after their trailblazing passage to the World Cup quarter-finals. "We have now become the team to beat," said the Perugia defender.

Meanwhile Titi Camara faces the ghosts of his bitter experience of the English Premiership when his Guinea team take on Mali. Lining up against him will be Frederic Kanoute, a former team-mate during his time at West Ham.

While Camara spent most of his career at Upton Park either on the bench, in the reserves or on the treatment table recovering from a knee injury, Kanoute was flying.

Kanoute's form at Upton Park earned him a 3.5-million-pound (6.3 million dollar) move to Tottenham last summer, while Camara went off to the backwaters of Qatar to lick his wounds.

"I think Harry Redknapp (West Ham manager at the time) expected a lot of me, but I signed for three years and I wanted do everything to show the public that I was a good choice," said Camara who moved to West Ham from Liverpool for 1.5 million pounds in December 2000.

Camara and Kanoute are key to their teams' hopes on Saturday with both men already having scored three goals at the tournament.

Aghahowa doubtful

MONASTIR: Ukraine-based striker Julius Aghahowa is the only injury worry for Nigeria ahead of Sunday's quarterfinal match against Cameroon here.

Aghahowa was the only player who did not take part in the Super Eagles behind-closed-doors training session on Friday as he picked up a knock in his thigh during the Group D tie against Benin on Wednesday, officials told AFP.

The 21-year-old Shaktar Donetsk striker top scored at the last Nations Cup in Mali with three goals but has yet to open his goals account in Tunisia. His place in the starting lineup may now be taken up by Osaze Odemwingie, who scored two goals against South Africa.

Otherwise, it will be an unchanged team from the one that defeated Benin 2-1 to reach the last eight of the tournament.

Saturday's quarterfinals: At Mensah, Tunis: Mali v Guinea (1300 GMT); At Rades, Tunis: Tunisia v Senegal (1600 GMT). -AFP