OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Sunday 4.30pm.
CAMEROON dropped hints on Saturday in a 1-1 draw with African Nations Cup co-hosts Ghana that they are ready to reclaim their position as kings of African football.
The opening match of the biennial, 16-team championship saw the Indomitable Lions from Central Africa create and waste a host of chances and would not have been flattered by a three-goal winning margin.
It was an otherwise impressive start to Group A for a country which won the event twice and were runners-up once in the 1980s before gradually slipping into mediocrity.
Dreadlocked Liverpool defender Rigobert Song ensured that goalkeeper Boukar Alioum had a largely inactive afternoon and West Ham United midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe was superb during the first half.
Italy-based striker Patrick Mboma could spend the rest of the three-week tournament wondering how he failed to convert a simple second-half chance after goalkeeper Richard Kingston parried a cross to his feet.
Kingston led a charmed life in the opening half with Cameroon repeatedly waltzing through a fragile Black Stars defence only for Song, Joseph-Desire Job and Salomon Olembe to spurn chances.
Ghana, who began impressively with slick, short-passing movements, fell behind after 19 minutes when Job crossed to the far post, Laurent Mayer rifled the ball against the crossbar and captain Foe headed home the rebound.
Even after Kwame Ayew levelled in the 56th minute through a rasping drive there was a chance for Cameroon to clinch the three points, but Samuel Eto’o saw his late header come back off the crossbar.
Ghana, four-time champions and second favourites behind co-hosts Nigeria to win the first continental championship of the new century, rarely recaptured their impressive build-up form under Italian coach Giuseppe Dossena.
The Black Stars return to action on Thursday against minnows Togo, who beat them at the 1998 tournament, and Cameroon tackle Cote d’Ivoire in a potential thriller the following day. — AFP