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Lions wilt as Irish come back
In the end a draw was a fair, even though many will feel Ireland's second-half ascendancy merited more. In the first half Cameroon had enough clear-cut chances to have put the game out of Ireland's reach even before their equaliser. The first half hour was a close affair. The Cameroon opening salvos were from Mbomba and the impressive Eto'o. Eto'o was by far Cameroon's most potent weapon, and he should have been on the score sheet when surging through on goal, his second touch pushed the ball to close to Given, thus allowing the Irishman to close down the eventual shot. Cameroon looked as if they had plenty of gears to shift through, even though Ireland defended central midfield manfully. Once they had shifted up gears, the Cameroon forwards, especially Eto'o began to turn and drift into the channels, and with Geremi using the space down the flanks well; it was only a matter of time before that utilisation of space created another opening. When it happened it was a glorious move. In the 39th minute, Geremi set Eto'o free with an inside pass. Eto'o turned past the static Staunton and raced to the byline, where he beat a retreating Staunton again, before sliding a pass for Mboma to sweep home. Ireland almost equalised on half-time when a stretching Song almost diverted a swinging Ian Harte free kick into his own goal, but fortunately Boukar Alioum pulled off a great save on the line. Geremi should have killed the game off after the break when he stole the ball from Harte, only to miss when attempting to guide past the advancing Given. Disappointingly, Cameroon failed to get another clear-cut chance and it was Ireland who had ended the game looking as though they had been training at high altitude train. Robbie Keane, hit the post after instantly controlling a poor clearance and Reid, who been brought on earlier for Harte had a long-range drive from a free kick palmed over by Alioum. Cameroon may be favourites to do well in this competition, but they were hustled out of it in the second-half, and easily over run. |
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