Cameroon took 81 minutes to score at home against minnows Guinea-Bissau on Saturday and ensure progress in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying competition.
France-based striker Benjamin Moukandjo punished a defensive mix-up before a small crowd to earn a 1-0 victory and repeat the scoreline of the first leg four months ago when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting snatched a late winner.
A labored victory over a team ranked 31 places lower in Africa lifted the Indomitable Lions into the final elimination round in September and October, when places at the Cup of Nations in South Africa will be up for grabs.
Photo: AFP
However, the outcome did little to ease tension between the national squad and its supporters, with former star Roger Milla forced to appeal for calm last week amid reports of verbal abuse and threats against some of the Cameroonian squad.
Cameroon were the first country to be eliminated from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and they failed to make this year’s Cup of Nations after finishing a distant second behind Senegal in a mini-league.
Such results are proving difficult to accept for supporters used to much better with the six World Cup appearances of Cameroon a record for an African country, and they have lifted the Cup of Nations four times.
Retirement of stars and constant coaching changes have not helped and current handler Denis Lavagne from France has been under pressure almost since the day he succeeded Spaniard Javier Clemente late last year.
The one bright speck on the horizon is the imminent return of star striker and captain Samuel Eto’o, whose instigating the bonus-related boycott of a friendly in Algeria in November last year led to an eight-month ban.
Cameroon supporters chanted his name at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde as they watched the Lions dominate one of the weakest national teams in Africa, but squander endless chances.
Cape Verde Islands, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda also secured places in the second round, where they will be joined by the 16 teams that competed at the 2012 Cup of Nations which Zambia surprisingly won.
Uganda came alive in the second half at the Nelson Mandela Stadium outside Kampala to trounce Congo Brazzaville 4-0 and overturn a two-goal first leg defeat.
Andy Mwesigwa headed in a first-half corner and the Cranes tore the Congolese defense to shreds after halftime with Godfrey Walusimbi converting a penalty before Geoffrey Massa and Emmanuel Okwi also netted.
Joseph Kamwendo atoned for missing a spot kick by scoring the goal that sealed a 2-0 win for Malawi over Chad, who came to Blantyre one goal ahead on aggregate.
Wasteful Nigeria saw off Rwanda 2-0 in Calabar after a goal-less first encounter with Ikechukwu Uche and Ahmed Musa scoring while a solitary first-leg goal took Liberia through after forcing a 0-0 draw with Namibia in Windhoek.
Sierra Leone struck four goals in a 20-minute first-half blitz to defeat Sao Tome e Principe 4-2 in a Freetown match boycotted by the local media after the organizers insisted journalists pay to enter the stadium.
The Leone Stars advanced 5-4 on aggregate, while the Cape Verde Islands had a much easier passage, winning 3-1 at home to Madagascar after taking a four-goal lead back to Praia.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop
RSS