Cameroon joined Côte d’Ivoire in the African Nations Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday as they beat sorry Togo 2-0 and looked a good bet to add a fourth title to their laurels.
Goals by star striker Samuel Eto’o and an outrageous backheel by substitute Albert Meyong saw the Indomitable Lions to an easy win and laid bare the failings that Togo will take with them to the World Cup finals later this year.
As Togo crashed out, fellow World Cup finals debutants Angola just about kept an interest in the tournament, but only by their fingernails, as they fought out a 0-0 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who played for 70 minutes with 10 men after rising star Tresor Mputu was sent off.
It left the DRC needing a point from their last match with Cameroon to join them in the last eight.
For a while it looked like Togo’s tactics of stopping the flowing Cameroon attacks would ultimately frustrate the African giants. However, the question is: How does one stop a talent like Eto’o from scoring?
The Barcelona ace finally cracked the Togo barrier in the second half with an unstoppable effort from just outside the area for his fourth goal of the tournament and 22nd in 48 internationals.
With Togo’s striker Emmanuel Adebayor cutting a lonely figure up front, it was only a question of time before Cameroon got a second, and it was quite something as Eto’o beat two defenders and cut the ball back into Meyong, who, with his back to goal, backheeled it into the far side of the net.
Nevertheless, there was rather a killjoy effect from Cameroon’s coach Artur Jorge, who looked like he had been eating lemons.
”Let’s not get carried away,” said the lugubrious-looking former Portugal and Switzerland national coach.
”We still have a third match to come and it is important that we keep going and play well,” added Jorge, who almost did not come to the tournament in an argument over non-payment of wages.
His Togolese counterpart, Stephen Keshi, remained defiant, having seen his star fall dramatically since they qualified for the World Cup finals
.
”Will I resign? That is a question for the federation and not me. Losing games sometimes can be the making of a team’s character and this I am sure will be the case with this side,” said the Nigerian, who won the 1994 Nations Cup title as a player.
However, Keshi also refused to agree that his row with Arsenal-bound striker Adebayor — who had almost come to blows with him and threatened to leave after the opening defeat against the DRC — had damaged the morale of the team.
”Adebayor is not the team,” he said bluntly.
In the day’s other match, the DRC held out for a goalless draw despite losing Mputu, who scored in the opening win over Togo, after 20 minutes for rashly kicking Carlos Alonso between the legs.
Distraught, Mputu tried to reason with referee Badara Djatta, but the Senegalese official was having none of it and rightly reached for the red card immediately.
The much-coveted striker, who has attracted three offers from Europe, including one from Lokomotiv Moscow, was given a consoling arm round the shoulders by coach Claude le Roy on his way to the dressing rooms.
”Perhaps Mputu paid a heavy price, but he will learn from it,” said Le Roy, who was understandably proud of his team.
”I take my hat off to them. I find myself doing that a lot, but for them to have held out for 70 minutes like that is a great achievement,” said the 58-year-old, who guided Cameroon to the 1988 African Nations Cup title.
”Anything is still possible, but we know that a draw with Cameroon will suffice. Cameroon are the strongest team but having seen what my players did …” he ended enigmatically.
Angola midfielder Paulo Figueireido said they have not lost hope of making the last eight.
”We are disappointed because we believe we played well,” said the 33-year-old, whose Portuguese parents fled Angola in 1975 when the country became independent. ”However, I still think we can make the last eight.”
It is still mathematically possible, but the odds are getting shorter on them joining their fellow World Cup qualifiers Togo on an early plane home. — AFP
