Fearing 'dirty tricks', meals for the 18-man squad will be prepared at the Zambian embassy in Kinshasa, capital of the DR Congo, an official admitted.

"At this stage of the competition anything can happen, especially when you are playing the host nation for a place in the final," warned Zambian delegation leader Machacha Shepande.

"Dirty tricks" have been part of African football for decades with visiting national and club sides regularly subjected to a range of difficulties designed to disrupt preparations and lower morale.

Sub-standard food, no hot water and insect-infested rooms at hotels, no keys to open training facilities, and unnecessarily long trips in buses lacking air conditioning are some examples of previous tactics employed.

Defending champions Nigeria and Gambia, the only team boasting a 100% record in the pool phase, meet in the other semi-final in Brazzaville at the same time.

Here BBC Sport rounds up some of the things he has said during his lifetime in and out of the ring.

If we've missed any, make sure you tell us using the 606 link at the bottom of this page (Web users only, WAP phone readers will not see link).

I'm not the greatest; I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round.

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

Floats like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.
Before the 1974 fight against George Foreman

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.
Again, before the 1974 Foreman fight

I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.
Yet more '74 pre-fight build-up ahead of facing Foreman

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

Superman don't need no seatbelt.

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.
On playing golf

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

Champions aren't made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

Only the nose knows where the nose goes when the doors close.

I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.
After losing to Ken Norton, 31 March 1973

I am America. I am the part you won't recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.

Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name - it means beloved of God - and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.
Announcing his conversion to the Muslim faith after first Sonny Liston fight

"What's my name, fool? What's my name?"
To Ernie Terrell during their 1967 fight - Terrell had refused to call him Muhammad Ali

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin' hell, but as long as they ain't free, I ain't free.

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?

I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a 'nigger'.

Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I'm not fighting one man. I'm fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of 'em, here is one man they couldn't defeat, couldn't conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30m black people.
Before his fight against Jerry Quarry in 1970.

A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

What's really hurting me - the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. Islam is not a killer religion, Islam means peace. I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem.
21 September 2001, in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.
Ali

It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila
Ali, before the "Thrilla in Manila" against Frazier

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.
Ali

I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva man, and God bless him.
Ali, after the "Thrilla in Manila"

I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologise for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.
Ali

The Butterfly and me have been through some ups and downs and there have been lots of emotions, many of them bad. But I have forgiven him. I had to. You cannot hold out for ever. There were bruises in my heart because of the words he used. I spent years dreaming about him and wanting to hurt him. But you have got to throw that stick out of the window. Do not forget that we needed each other, to produce some of the greatest fights of all time.
Frazier in reflective mood.

Hey Floyd - I seen you! Someday I'm gonna whup you! Don't you forget, I am the greatest!
To then-world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson during the 1960 Olympic Games.

Why, Chump, I bet you scare yourself to death just starin' in the mirror. You ugly bear! You ain't never fought nobody but tramps and has beens. You call yourself a world champion? You're too old and slow to be champion!
To Sonny Liston before their fight on 25 February 1964

I shook up the world! I shook up the world!
After beating Liston

That all you got George?
To Foreman late in the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire on 30 October 1974

Mushir Salem Jawher, born Leonard Mucheru, is now stateless after running a marathon in Israel, which Bahrain does not recognise.

He had used his Kenyan passport to enter Israel but this has been revoked.

Israeli media said Mr Jawher was the first athlete from an Arab country to compete in an Israeli marathon.

After learning that he had lost his Bahraini nationality, Mr Jawher told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper that he was "shocked".

"I was never told it was illegal to enter Israel. I really don't know what to do."

Anger

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Bahrain Athletic Association said it had received news that a Bahraini national had competed in Israel with "shock and regret".

A committee of sport and government authorities decided to strike Mr Jawher's name off the sport union records and revoke his Bahraini nationality, the statement said.

It said Mr Jawher entered Israel with his Kenyan passport and that the runner had "violated the laws of Bahrain".

Kenya does not allow dual nationality and Mr Jawher was supposed to have given up his passport in 2003 when he defected to Bahrain.

Mr Jawher won the Tiberias marathon in just over two hours and 13 minutes.

He is one of several long-distance athletes to have moved from East Africa to the Gulf in recent years on lucrative contracts.

The defections have provoked anger in Kenya.

BBC sports reporter Alex Capstick says payment for the transfer in the form of new facilities in Kenya has been slow to materialise, and not all athletes who make the move receive the privileged lifestyle they expected.

The Barcelona striker wasn't expected to return until February after tearing and displacing the meniscus during a Champions League game at Werder Bremen on 27 September.

"Eto'o is improving faster than predicted. He is a great athlete," Barcelona doctor Ramon Cugat said on Saturday.

However, Cugat also urged caution.

"We shouldn't celebrate too early. The meniscus requires great respect," he added.

The Cameroon international, who hopes to play against Liverpool on 21 February and 6 March in the second round of the Champions League, has missed 19 of the European and Spanish champion's games.

Without him, Barcelona struggled in the Champions League and has dropped to second place behind Sevilla in the Spanish league.

Eto'o, who has been Africa's top player in the last three seasons and was nominated for this year's award, has scored 68 goals for Barcelona since arriving from Mallorca in 2004.

He had 26 last season to be the Spanish league's top scorer.

Barcelona has other injury concerns.

African champions Ahly took the lead after 42 minutes from a free-kick by Mohamed Aboutrika.

Club America responded on the hour when Salvador Cabanas headed home Chauhtemoc Blanco's cross at the near post.

Aboutrika grabbed his second goal in the 79th minute after exchanging passes with Flavio and rifling a low shot past America goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.

Ahly finished last at the 2005 tournament but the Cairo side overcame Auckland City from New Zealand to book their place in this year's semi-finals - where they faced Internacional.

A late Luiz Adriano denied them a place in the final against Barcelona but goalscorer Aboutrika insisted his side were pleased to have finished third.

He said: "This is a good result for us.

"After finishing last a year ago, it was satisfying to score twice and help our team finish third."

Aboutrika's exploits enhanced his claim to become African player of the year.

The Egypt international is the only Africa-based player to be shortlisted, alongside Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Samuel Eto'o and Nwankwo Kanu.

The 30-year-old, who has been linked with Dutch club Ajax, reportedly told a Nigerian radio station said: "If a better offer comes I will take it."

But striker Kanu is under contract until the end of the season and Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie said: "There's no chance of him leaving.

"Kanu is our player and he's tied up until the end of the season, with an option of an extension beyond that."

The Premier League's top scorer with nine goals, Kanu's career has been revitalised since joining Pompey from West Brom in the summer.