Indomitable Lions hitman, Samuel Eto'o Fils' late goal against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on Saturday, June 21, was what it took to clinch victory for the Indomitable Lions.
When the two sides clashed at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium. The Lions had been held to a virgin draw during the away leg in Dar-es-Salaam a week earlier and it didn't look like they were going to have things any easy this time round.
For one thing, even though they practically dominated play throughout the first half of the encounter, the Taifa Stars stubbornly frustrated all efforts by the striking duo of Eto'o and Achilles Webo from doing any damage. Even Eto'o's 67th minute opener was hurriedly closed by the Stars some 10 minutes later. Eto'o only squeezed in the winner for Cameroon in stoppage time.
The encounter marked a day four action of the on going joint 2010 World and African Cup of Nations qualifiers.Eto'o now joins Frederick Kanoute of Mali as second-highest goal scorers in the African qualifiers with four goals, one behind leader, Moumouni Dagano of Burkina Faso with five.
During the first segment of the game, the Taifa Stars adopted a defensive play style, which paid off as their watertight defence waded off all incursions from the Lions attack force manned by Eto'o and Achilles Webo.
In spite of several scoring opportunities created by Eto'o and Geremi Njitap, Webo failed to score and give Cameroon the lead in the first segment of the game.Eto'o opener came, courtesy of a well executed corner kick by Njitap. The Tanzanians equalised 11 minutes after, thereby increasing the pressure on the Lions that feared a draw at home.
Eto'o's 90th minute goal gave the Lions the lead not only in the game but also in their Group.
Tanzanian coach, Brazilian born Marcio Maximo, blamed his team's defeat on the referee.
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The Lions now top Group I with 10 points. Meantime, the players would go back to their clubs and only return in August for the next round.
Besides the new improved status of the Amadou Ahidjo Stadium, the Lions official sponsor, Orange Cameroun, added colour and fanfare to the game.The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join the host country, South Africa, at the 2010 World Cup tournament.
According to FIFA rules the qualification process will also decide the 15 teams that will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.The following results were recorded in Saturday qualifying matches: Zambia 1- 0 Swaziland, South Africa 0-0 Sierra Leone, Nigeria 2-0 Equatorial Guinea, Morocco 2-0 Rwanda, Burkina Faso 4-1 Seychelles, Tunisia 2-1 Burundi and Senegal 3-1 Liberia.
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