|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Cameroon bag first win since 1990
Cameroon struggled
to get by a resilient Saudi Arabia but were rescued in the second half
by Samuel Etoo's finish of a superb long-ball. The brave Saudis worked
hard for the entire match and earned the support of the neutral crowd
in Saitama, Japan. After two matches,
Cameroon are on four points in Group E along with Germany, who they will
meet on 11 June. The match began with
the run of play favouring Cameroon, but Saudi Arabia held strong and looked
a much stronger side than that which took the field against Germany in
their opener. Abdullah Alwaked Al
Shahrani nearly set up the first goal of the match when he spotted Obaid
Al Dosari breaking into the penalty area and sent a cross that the Saudi
forward headed over the crossbar). For both teams, the
first goal was not going to come easily. Each team produced its share
of mild threats, but neither Al Deayea nor Cameroon goalkeeper Boukar
Alioum was truly tested. The Saudis suffered
a blow when Al Dosari left the match late in the first half with an apparent
left knee injury. The 26-year-old forward was chasing down a Cameroon
defender when he planted his left foot and went down in a heap. Al Hasan Al Yami,
who replaced Al Dosari, sent a nifty pass into the penalty area for Nawaf
Al Temyat that looked dangerous, but his shot rolled wide. Cameroon again were
caught in a premature celebration as the assistant referee's flag had
been raised for offside, when Lauren was judged to have run in before
the defence when he headed Geremi's cross beyond Al Deayea. Early in the second
half Samuel Etoo was presented with two brilliant opportunities to open
the scoring for Cameroon. Half-time substitute Salomon Olembe did the
hard work by bursting through the Saudi Arabia defence. As he dribbled
into the area, he laid the ball off for Etoo, who had time to settle the
ball and turn, but his shot sailed wildly into the stands behind the goal.
Saudi Arabia then
had their first good chance of the half when Al Temyat sprinted into the
Cameroon half, made a strong move on a defender and sent a low shot on
goal that Alioum was able to stop with a dive to his left. The opening strike
would finally come when a cross from the right side was played into the
path of Etoo, who forced Al Deayea off his line and nudged the ball past
the keeper with the outside of his right foot. Now facing a second
loss and elimination, Saudi Arabia brought on Abdullah Gaman Al Dosary,
who walked onto the pitch to take a dangerous free kick from 19 metres
on the right side. His left-footed effort seemed to have a chance but
was deflected by the wall at the last instant (73'). With the Saudis desperately
seeking an equaliser, it was the Indomitable Lions that produced more
dangerous chances at the close of the match, defending with numbers and
patience and waiting for the counter-attack. Winnie Schaefer the
Cameroon coach said after the match: : "It was important that we
won. But we have one problem - we can't score in front of goal. If we
could have scored in the first few minutes then it would have been a different
story. But what was important was that my team kept going. Our last 15
minutes and the goal were very positive for our mental belief." "I don't normally
like to single out one player, but I have to mention Samuel Etoo who played
a great match and scored the vital goal." "The result is
not so important anyway, because now we have to win against Germany anyway."
"It will be a decisive match. I didn't really want that (Schaeffer is himself German). But I am a Lion, as trainer of the Cameroon team. I really want my team to get through to the second round, even at the expense of Germany." We have to win against Germany. I don't have any special feeling about Germany, I just want to beat another team. For me, it is no different if it is Rudi Voeller (coach of Germany) or Roger Lemerre (Coach of France) on the other side." |
 |
Roberts
calls it a day Where
is Benin? Ford
stalled by UCB Eto'o
Samuel? In
Round 1 Metsu's
secret The
next Haile Profiles New
kids on the
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright African Sport, 2000 |
Site
design by Lee Chamberlain
|
