Cameroon vs Sudan – LiveBlog

January 30th, 2008 | by: Laurie | Comments Off

Cameroon 3-0 Sudan FINAL

28′ Eto’o (pen), 92′ , 34′ Ali Khadir (o.g.)

Group C
Date: Wednesday, 30 January
Time: 1700 GMT
Location: Tamale Sports Stadium

Cameroon deserves the win, if not the 3-0 scoreline. Sudan had a good second half and at least made the game interesting.

90 + 2 Okay, NOW it’s over. The whistle blows and Cameroon goes through on a 3-0 game.

90 + 2 GOAL!! Cameroon. I lied. Eto’o scores again on a breakaway. Lovely

90′ Two minutes stoppage time. This game is essentially over.

86′ Yellow for Bikey (Cameroon) for what looks like nothing at all. Zambia has equalized against Egypt. Cameroon will still go through if they draw.

83′ Cameroon plays a long stretch of keep-away around the center line. Are we done yet?

81′ Not much goin’ on. The ball is traveling back and forth up and down the field, but the game has slowed down again.

76′ Essola on, Epalle off for Cameroon.

76′ The on-screen graphic is again saying the second goal was a Sudan own goal. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know the final decision.

73′ Epalle looks threatening just outside the area, but Sudan defends well. Damar goes down. Ankle, maybe? The magic spray works its magic. Through the socks. Miraculous.

71′ Haitham gets another shot for Sudan, but it’s soft and wide.

69′ Lovely free kick along the ground and through the wall, but the keeper is there for the save

68′ R. Song trips Babiker on the edge of the box. Free kick Sudan.

67′ Sudan plays several clever passes back and forth in front of the goal, but in the end the shot goes to the keeper. I’d love to see them get their first goal of the tournament today. They’re starting to look like they deserve it.

65′ Musa goes down on the field and rolls around like he’s been shot in the chest by Epalle. On replay it just looks like a love pat.

64′ Another shot for Sudan, and it also goes wide. But they are definitely in attack mode.

63′ Babiker (Sudan) gets a shot off, but it goes wide

62′ Babiker on, Agab off for Sudan

60′ Job takes a knock to the face but seems okay.

59′ Epalle crosses to Tomou, who sends a strong header toward goal, but the keeper collects it.

58′ Toumo on, Amana off for Cameroon.

57′ Sudan gets another shot on goal, saved by the keeper.

55′ Sudan creates another drive. It comes to nothing, but suddenly the game has speeded up and gotten interesting.

54′ Eto’o gets and opportunity that goes nowhere.

53′ Sudan gets another shot after the corner, which goes high. Osman is on for Sudan. I missed who came off because I was busy typing.

52′ Hado (Sudan) has an excellent shot on goal that is saved by the keeper.

51′ Words of wisdom from our commentator. “The pace has gone out of this game again.” He hopes Sudan steps it up, or else, “It makes for kind of a dead rubber, these final forty minutes.” I LOVE this guy.

49′ Eto’o goes down after a hard but fair challenge. No free kick awarded. He hops up after a short spell on the turf.

48′ The band seems to be getting better as the competition goes on. Playing the same tune 37,000 times will do that.

47′ Eto’o gets a good chance, but shoots high.

46′ We’re underway.

Tchato in, Atoub out for Cameroon at the half.

I’m going to refresh my caffeine supply during halftime and suggest you do the same. Cameroon dialed it back a notch after that second goal, and now they’re playing at half-speed. And Sudan seems happy to allow it to happen.

Oddly, Eto’o is being credited with that second goal. I don’t think he even touched it.

HALFTIME.

45 + 1 One minute of stoppage time.

45′ Sudan makes a charge. Cameroon clears over the goal line and Sudan at last gets a corner. Which goes nowhere.

40′ Cameroon gets their 5th corner. Job is unmarked but heads it to the keeper’s feet.

38′ Sudan gets a sustained posession, creates a drive and looks threatening, but the shot does just wide. Goal kick.

34′ GOAL!!! Cameroon. It looks like an Ali Khadir own goal. Miserable defending leads to the ball bouncing off of his upper body and into the goal

32′ Eto’o takes a half-hearted, left-footed shot that goes miles wide.

29′ Wonder how Sudan will respond. They can’t just park the bus in front of the goal now.

28′ GOAL!!! Cameroon! Eto’o breaks the record!

26′ Yousef Alaeldin kind of pulls down Emana in the box. The ref awards the yellow and points to the spot. A somewhat shaky penalty, in my opinion. But now Eto’o gets his chance at the record.

26′ Geremi shoots. El Moez clears, but looks shaky. If somebody had followed up, Cameroon would have a goal.

24′ Sudan applies offensive pressure again. Cameroon doesn’t seem to remember how to defend. After the ball flies around for awhile, they finally clear it out.

22′ Sudan suddenly charges forward, and Kameni actually has to make a save. Maybe this won’t be the expected snoozefest after all.

20′ Sudan makes a half-hearted foray into Cameroon’s half, but Cameroon intercepts easily before they reach the final third.

19′ Okay, I have a starting lineup for Sudan at last. Sudan: Elmuiz Abdalla; Bakhit, El Tayeb, Ali Elkhidir, Yousif Hado; Kuku, Lado, Karar, El Bashir; Kamal Tambal, Agab Sido

17′ I think the Cameroon keeper has seen the ball twice — both in back passes.

15′ In the other game, Egypt has scored. This helps Cameroon. If they need it.

12′ Late tackle by Sudan. Free kick straight into the wall. Apolgies about my lack of Sudan specificity. My cheat sheets aren’t acccurate. I’ll search for better ones no later than halftime.

8′ Geremi is taking all the corners and throw-ins and free kicks. They’re not looking terribly threatening up to this point. All play is going on in the Sudan half, but Sudan is defending for all they’re worth. They would be thrilled with a nil-nil draw.

6′ Corner for Cameroon easily cleared

4′ Free kick by Cameroon. The keeper bats it out of play. Sudan defense looks shaky on the throw-in, but the opportunity passes.

2′ ACK! How did Cameroon miss that? Three shots one-on-one with the keeper in ten seconds. The Sudanese keeper saves two in quick succession, and Eto’o shoots the third one high.

1′ Okay, we’re off.

-1 Coach Otto Pfister is not wearing socks. Just thought you’d like to know.

-1 Boy, the Puma jerseys are boring and redundant. No room for creativity if you work for Puma, apparently.

-2 I keep waiting for Eurosport to give me an accurate lineup, but I guess we’re out of luck. So we’ll stick with this inaccurate one. Helpful, huh?

Lineups:

Cameroon: Kameni, Atouba, Bikey, Song, Gilles Binya, Song, Geremi Njitap, Emana,M’Bani,Job,Eto’o.

Sudan: (These names aren’t matching up to mine, or up to what was on the screen, but don’t blame me — they’re coming from Eurosport.) El Moez, Damar,Gibril,Ali Khider,Al Tayeb,El Doud,Mostafa,Lado,Abdallah,Babiker,Tambal

- 5. They’re doing the National Anthems. Samuel Eto’o looks about twelve.

-7 Okay, got it back. They’re doing a preview. Sudan is in white, Cameroon in green. Everybody’s looking surprisingly relaxed.

-10′ ACK! I’ve lost the feed. Hold on.

-19′ Okay, we have a stream, folks. The stadium is almost empty. Seriously, just a few faces dotting the landscape. Doesn’t anybody want to see Eto’o break the record? Because we all know that’s what’s going to happen.

Preview:

A win for Cameroon will guarantee that they advance. If they draw, they’ll need Egypt to at least draw against Zambia.

Sudan is not mathematically out of the running, but they’d have to combine a huge win over Cameroon with an Egyptian win over Zambia. I’m not holding my breath, but anything can happen. Here’s the current Group C Table:

Scouting Report:

Cameroon came back from a 4-2 loss to Egypt to beat Zambia 5-1, so they’re feeling some momentum going into this game. They have no reported injuries. Midfielder Joel Epalle had a toe injury and was questionable, but he’s been cleared by the doctor for the game.Samuel Eto’o will be going for the ACN record after tying current record holder Laurent Pokou in the Zambia game with 14 total goals scored.

Sudan’s Desert Hawks are still looking for their first points in the tournament. They have conceded six goals so far and have yet to score a goal. They’ll be looking to change that. One point in their favor is that they’re mostly a domestically-based team and are very familiar with each other. We’ll see if that helps them out here.

Team blogs: Be sure to check out Chris’s Cameroon blog.

Streams: Try this, or this or this and if you’re confused about streaming then read our guide here. Alternatively you can cough up some cash and subscribe to an official service.