ACTUALITE |
03.06.2003
Canon notch champions league berth
Martin Etonge
Canon have become the second Cameroonian club to qualify for the CAF champions league following their defeat of St. Eloi Lupopo of the DR Congo 3-1 in the return leg 8th finals in Yaounde.
Before then only Sable Batie had played the league since the new format was introduced eight years ago.
But it was not an easy task for Canon who performed a near miracle. They came from a goal down to take three goals in the first half. By half time few in the over 25.000 man crowd in Yaounde could believe in that miracle.
Canon were completely dominated by the visitors. Midfield maestro, Matumona Zola did what ever he wanted with the ball. Led by skipper Toni Esame, the Congolese ran rings around Canon players at will.
By the 24th minute when Eale Lutula fired in the curtain raiser following a poor clearance of the ball by Canon’s defense, Canon were confused and appeared a shadow of themselves.
However, they found their fighting spirit at resumption and in the 58th minute, Marcus Mokake who had missed several other evident chances, equalized from a confused game in Lupopo’s goal mouth.
Ten minutes later Francis Ambane gave Canon the lead under similar circumstances. Before Ngon A Ndjam made it three from the penalty spot after Ambane was fouled in the box in the 76th minute.
Victory was sweet, but Canon had badly exposed their weaknesses. May be that was why coach Dieudonne Nke said that luckily they had one month to rest and prepare for the next opponents. In apparent recognition of their poor play, Nke said they will be able to used more talented players in the champions league proper.
Meantime, another Cameroon side, Coton Sport Garoua made it to the quarter-finals of the CAF Cup. Playing at home, Coton Sport beat Sundowns of South Africa 2-0 to go through 2-1 on aggregate.
But Cameroon’s third club, Mount Cameroon Buea failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup. After a two all draw at home, they went down 2-3 in Kumasi Ghana to Ashanti Kotoko.
There were reports that Mount Cameroon suffered from poor officiating. After taking several bookings and an expulsion, the referee still awarded a penalty against Mount Cameroon in dying seconds of stoppage time. The penalty was transformed into the third and winning goal for Ashanti Kotoko.
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