1 July 2007 – Cameroon beat China 3-1 in their final Sasol 8 Nations Group A game in Eldorado Park on Sunday to secure a place in the next stage of the tournament with the group leaders Botswana.
Christian Bekamenga scored twice for the Olympic Lions and Leonard Kwekeu netted once. Tian Ning scored for the dispirited Chinese.
Both teams had a chance of going through – if they won – and Cameroon showed their intentions early on when Bekamenga put the Central Africans in the lead.
China equalised soon after and it seemed Amaglug-glug [South Africa] would have a chance of going through if the game ended in a draw.
After the break Cameroon stormed the China defence and won a penalty after an under-pressure defender hacked down a Cameroon striker. Bekamenga stepped up to put his team in the lead and convincingly beat Wang Dalei from the penalty spot.
China tried to equalise again but the Cameroon defence denied the desperate Asians. Cameroon resorted to punting the ball upfield and when one such clearance reached Dalei, the keeper foolishly tried to beat Kwekeu who took the ball from the keeper and slotted it into an empty net.
There was no way back for China and Cameroon showed their relief at the final whistle. They will now face either Lesotho or Ghana in the next round.
