/ 24 April 2000

CAMEROON BLAST SOMALIA 3-0

CAMEROON showed their class to beat a Somalia 3-0 in their World Cup qualifier, with three goals coming in an 11-minute blitz of the first half. Somalia fielded a team in a Cup qualifier for the first time in nearly two decades, and their inexperienced youngsters didn’t look as though they’d give the African champions any trouble. Somali ‘keeper Abdelkadi Mohammed Hassan worked overtime, and had he not done as well as he did the score would have been far larger. Cameroonian midfield star Salomon Olembe was a major headache to the Somalis and he set up the first and third goals. Patrick Mboma opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 26th minute and sniper Marc-Vivien Foe transformed a foul advantage several minutes later with a 35-meter drive that beat Hassan. Samuel Eto’o Fils scored the third goal on a pass from Mboma in the 37th minute. The second leg of the two-match series will also be played in Yaounde on Sunday because of security problems in Somalia.