Admin l Saturday, February 05, 2022
YAOUNDE – Cameroon, the host of the African Cup of Nation, AFCON came back from 3 goals deficit to pick the bronze medal in a thrilling but tension soaked encounter at the 42, 500 Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaounde, literally setting the arena on fire.
Cameroon succeeded in drawing level after 120 minutes of play, pushing the encounter into penalty shootout. Cameroon led 5-3 on penalty after the classic and very explosive encounter.
It was indeed a befitting recreation of Nigeria’s Dammam miracle in Saudi ‘89 between Nigeria and Russia in the U20 FIFA tournament on 25th February 1989. Nigeria came back from 4 goals down to beat Russia 5-3 on penalty. That is all for history.
Burkina Faso took the lead in the 24th minutes when Steeve Yago found the back of the Cameroonian net to give his team a 1-0 lead. An own goal made it 2-0 for Burkina Faso, who appeared determined to pick the bronze.
Djibril Ouattara made it 3-0 in the 49th minutes when he connected a ball with his head in to give Burkina Faso a 3-0 lead to seal up the chances for Cameroon.
But it appears it was not too late for Cameroon and the chance came in 71st minutes when Stephane Bahoken puts the ball in the net and reduced the deficit by one, putting scores at 3-1.
The 85th minutes header from Vincent Aboubakar brought hope alive to put scores at 3-2 . Two minutes later, Vincent Aboubakar was on call again and made it 3-3 with a header, dragging the game into extra time with Cameroon taking the day beating Burkina Faso 5-3 on penalty.
