Cameroon’s U-17 side have qualified for the last round of this year’s Nations Cup finals in Swaziland following their 2-0 victory over Gabon in Yaounde. With a goal down from the away leg in Libreville, the Cameroon side almost frustrated fans who waited until the second half to see the goals come in.
Skipper Gilbert Momo got the double, first in the 50 minute and then from the penalty spot in the 84th minute, after Joseph Mawaye was fouled in the box.
As trailers, the Indomitable Lions started with immense pressure on their opponents. Gabon’s coach, Claude Ndourounot had prescribed caution to his boys.
Momo, Emmanuel Ambane and Jean Mboue Mboue got the first misses for Cameroon as the Gabonese responded with counter attacks. The Lions were in the opponents box virtually every other minute.
However, with no goal yet in the 30th minute, panic settled into the Lions side, enabling Gabon to have an upper hand. But strikers Oumarou Abourbakar and Ndjali Nzamba could not finish up properly.
Cameroon kept the game under control 7 minutes after resumption when Momo cleverly connected a passs from Patrick Atangana who had replaced Ambane in the 37th minute.
As if they little expected Cameroon to score, Gabon got confused and abandoned their hitherto fluid game. Their long passes up front caused little trouble for agile goalkeeper Oumarou Idrissou from Far North division two side Sahel Maroua.
Momo had the second goal from the penalty spot to give Cameroon an aggregate 2-1 win over Gabon.
Gabon’s coach blamed defeat on the poor state of the pitch. « We are not used to playing under such condition, kicking long balls up and we failed to construct our game as usual », he said.
In the next and last round, Cameroon will meet Senegal who eliminated Morocco.
Martin Etonge
