Old name PWD Bamenda in the North West province and youthful Renaissance Ngoumou in the Centre province have won places in the division one championship.
Both teams earned essential wins respectively over Caiman Douala (1-0) and Etoile Essazok (2-1) on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the national Interpools tournament. The losers will clash on Sunday for the third and last division one place available.
Playing in Douala on Wednesday, ten men PWD dragged Caiman into extra time before netting the golden goal. The win crowned the efforts of North West elite, led by club chairman Isa Bongam to have Bamenda once more enjoy top flight games.
Their qualification for division one also enabled the province maintain its connection to the national football network, after the relegation of Kumbo Strikers. PWD clearly dominated the Douala pool, winning six games on seven. It was logical for them to defeat Caiman who had finished second in pool B in Yaounde.
So too was it logical for Renaissance Ngoumou, who topped the Yaounde pool to beat Etoile in Yaounde.
However, it was real luck for Renaissance who came up from a goal down to triumph 2-1. Etoile were overall masters of the game but failed to finish most of their actions after taking the lead barely ten minutes into the game, through Louis Belinga.
Belinga lead the Etoile attack force to numerous raids into enemy territory to no avail. They played a better game. Renaissance’s mask man, Oscar Tsa’a was rendered unproductive and substituted after 28 minutes.
Fortunately for Renaissance, they found enough energy after the break to step up a gear. And against the run of things, at the 71st minute, skipper Albert Atouba fired in a free kick from about 30 metres for the equalizer.
Six minutes later, goal-getter Fewou Mbouemboue made it two from a defense mix up. Etoile continued to press on, but were not solid enough to catch up.
For skipper Atouba, the victory was compensation for their ‘second half revival’. While club owner, Nguini Effa was all praises for the CPDM. He said it was consolation for him and the cohort of elite from the Mefou and Akono division who have been working extra hard to organize the youths.
Nguini Effa promised that with the team now in division one, they will let it operate in purely business lines. This he believed will help the team stay long in division one.
Martin Etonge
