First up on this Group D day was Gabon and Tunisia. Gabon were coming off the back of a shock 1-0 victory over Cameroon in their first game whilst Tunisia had struggled against Zambia and fought out a 1-1 draw. Tunisia were the favorites going into the game but this cup has not been one for favorites and the Tunisians struggled to take control, eventually settling for a 0-0 draw.
The point moves Gabon, who weren’t expected to get past the Group stage before this tournament began, to the top of the table. Things are looking bright for them and it seems they will go through, Tunisia on the other hand will have a hard time of it, with two points from two games they have yet to play the group favorites Cameroon and It looks like they will need a win against them when they do face-off.
Cameroon were looking to record their first points in this competition when they played Zambia later in the day. The Zambians opened up a shock early lead though after Mulenga took advantage of some poor defending by Song to score his second goal of the competition.
Cameroon looked good but a few defensive slip ups nearly cost them and they could have easily found themselves 3-0 down. Cameroon had some chances of their own though, including a goal which was disallowed on the hour mark. The group favorites got what they wanted with just over twenty minutes to go though after the Zambian Goalkeeper made the biggest mistake of the tournament. The ball was played in by Geremi from forty yards or so and looked to be trickling towards the keeper who jumped down to meet the ball, somehow though he missed it and seemed to jump over the top of the ball, watching hopelessly as it passed him and crept in for a very dodgy equalizer and one that will haunt the Goalkeeper and find its way onto many football comedy reels.
After their equalizer Cameroon took the game by the throat and four minutes later Samuel Eto’o put them in front. A moment of madness in the final ten minutes then saw Cameroon Goalkeeper Kameni give away a penalty which was converted by Katongo to equal things up again. A point certainly seemed like a fair result in this match but Cameroon really needed to get a win if they were to stand much of a chance of getting through.
Cameroon pushed on then and with five minutes to go Geremi found Idrissou with a sweet cross and the forward nodded them back into the lead. With one minute of stoppage time to play the whistle was blown and Cameroon got their win, but the two Goalkeepers will take the headlines in this game.
