South Africa here come the Indomitable Lions: Cameroon 2-0 Morocco

November 14th, 2009 | by: shane | Comments(3)

Cameroon emphatically capped off their World Cup qualifying campaign by easily subduing the Atlas Lions of Morocco 2-0 in Fez. After a disastrous start to qualifying saw them with just 1 point after two matches and 5 points off the pace of Gabon, Cameroon in trademark fashion dug in and won their final 4 matches to qualify for the World Cup.

The starting eleven for Cameroon in today’s match was what I predicted with the exception of Landry N’Guemo starting instead of Stéphane M’Bia. Here was the line-up:

Kameni
Assou-Ekotto-R. Song-Nkoulou-Geremi
Makoun-N’Guemo-A. Song-Emana
Eto-o-Webo

In otherwords the same starting eleven as the Togo match with Assou-Ekotto in place of Henri Bedimo.

The match started off with Cameroon setting a very physical tone and bullying their Moroccan counterparts. Opportunities were scarce for both teams and it looked like Cameroon might struggle to find a goal. Morocco were working hard but certainly looked short of quality.

The match completely changed in the 18th minute when Achille Webo on the outside of the box fired in a low shot that beat Moroccan keeper Lamyaghri and hit off the side of the far post and over the line to give Cameroon a 1-0 lead.

From that point on Cameroon were in the ascendancy and Morocco were simply trying to hang in the match. And hang in they would as Cameroon were misfiring when they created chances. The best chance came after Eto’o won a corner but Makoun skied his header well over goal. The match went to the half with Cameroon holding a narrow 1-0 advantage though Morocco had not yet forced Kameni into a single save. Meanwhile the action in Lome between Togo and Gabon was locked in a 0-0 draw.

The second half started in the same fashion as the second ended with Cameroon in complete control of the proceedings. And it would not be long before the lead was doubled. Geremi took a corner kick and Makoun flicked a header to the far post where Eto’o was left completely unmarked from just a couple yards out and he blasted the ball into the back of the net for a simple goal in the 52nd minute. He really had no choice but to score from that position.

Cameroon should have put the result beyond all doubt as in the 66th minute Emana had the ball played into him in the box but only managed to fire his shot straight into Lamyaghri and the danger was cleared for Morocco. Emana was almost immediately after substituted for Stéphane M’Bia to add further steel to the midfield.

Morocco really did not need to be stifled though as they were taking care of that themselves. The effort was their but the quality was not and the attack was impotent. They did create a decent chance shortly after Emana’s missed opportunity with a shot from outside the box saved by Kameni and the rebound fell to an offsides Moroccan player. Even had the initial shot gone in the linesman may have ruled it off due to the offside Moroccan player possibly being in Kameni’s line of sight.

Morocco’s final chance came off a free kick from Mohamed Chihani who forced Kameni into a decent save. The Moroccan attack would not conjure up any more chances and it was Cameroon who looked more likely to score. Atchoyi Somen and Enoh Eyong would replace Landry N’Guemo and goal hero Webo respectively in the 77th and 82nd minutes.

Morocco would eventually grab an unlikely goal, unfortunately it came courtesy of a fan running onto the pitch and putting the ball into Kameni’s net. Needless to say the referee had no choice but to disallow it. Disgruntled Moroccan fans, of which some 25,000 were given free entry, started to storm out of the stadium and made short to destroy some of the seats in the stadium in the process.

The final whistle mercifully ended the campaign for Morocco who will now miss out on the African Cup of Nations in Angola. Cameroon manager, Paul le Guen who oversaw the turnaround in Cameroon’s fortunes was doused with water following the full time whistle and Cameroon engaged in relatively tepid celebrations. It was a squad that expected the result they got and due to the relatively easy manner in which they got the result their jubilation was not the same as that of the Nigerians earlier in the day. In the other match Togo ended up as 1-0 winners in Gabon meaning that even if Cameroon had lost they still would have qualified for South Africa.

I am sure the fans back home in Cameroon are in joyous mood as their heros have avoided a repeat of the 2006 qualifying campaign and will be making an African record 6th World Cup appearance.

Here is the video of Webo’s World Cup qualifying goal:

And here is Eto’o’s clincher: