Emmanuel Ndoumbe Bosso’s side booked a berth in the Nehru Cup final as they beat Maldives 3-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi. Kingue Mpondo gave his side the lead which was soon cancelled out by Abdul Ghani. Mpondo scored his second before the end of the first half and Ebanga Bertin converted from the spot after the break to seal the three points for his side.
Cameroon started in their 4-4-2 formation with Ebanga Bertin and Kologny Merime leading the line upfront. Maldives were unperturbed by the fact that they were playing against tournament favourites and still had three at the back with Shafiu Ahmed, Abdul Ghani and Mohamed Shifan.
The signs were clear from the start as Cameroon looked for their opening goal and came close as early as in the 5th minute when Joseph Momaso ran down the left wing, beat his markers and sent in a cross towards Bertin who missed an easy chance.
The goal came in the 12th minute when Kologny Merime crossed from inside the box towards Kingue Mpondo who volleyed the ball home.
The very next minute could have seen the lead doubled for Cameroon had it not been for an alert Mohamed Shifan. Thierry Makon fould Bertin who found his way past the Maldives shirts to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper Imran Mohamed before Shifan came in with a last ditch tackle.
Thereafter the three Maldives defenders, and in particular Shifan, kept clearing their lines as Cameroon launched wave after wave of attack.
The equalizer came in the 26th minute when Easa Ismail chipped over the Cameroonian defence and Ghani, who continued his run from his own half, did the needful.
Cameroon continued their forward march in search for a goal with Ashu Tamba’s free-kick being tipped over by Imran Mohamed just after the half hour mark. Tamba, on another occasion, ran down the right wing and cut it for Merime who dribbled past the defenders but sent in a weak shot in the end.
The Africans were soon rewarded for their persistent efforts as Mpondo scored from a Makon flag-kick in the 39th minute.
Just before the end of the first half, Momaso found Makon who did a 360 degree turn to fox the defenders but Imran Mohamed averted the danger for Istvan Urbanyi’s side.
After the break and the referee played spoilsport by sending off Ashadh Ali in the 47th minute for protesting his decision to award a penalty to Cameroon after Mpondo’s shirt was being allegedly pulled inside the box from a corner-kick. Ebanga Bertin stepped up and coolly converted from the spot with the goalkeeper guessing otherwise to lead the goalscoring charts of the tournament with four to his name.
With a player more than the opponents, Cameroon relaxed as they knew that they sealed a berth in the final as Maldives would find it difficult to overcome a two-goal deficit.
The match ended with a 3-1 scoreline with much of the boring second half action to be blamed at the referee who naively red carded the Maldives player to kill the game as a contest.
