Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed a golden chance and Gabon hit the post in the final minute but the hosts couldn’t get the goal to qualify for the knock-out stage, while Burkina Faso won the group after beating Guinea-Bissau 2-0
Cameroon’s players celebrate in front of their fans, whilst Gabon’s players look distraught: Bouanga in particular looks inconsolable, sobbing on the turf. From what I can tell, Aubameyang walked straight off. That miss in the first half, miscueing a tap-in from two yards out, will surely haunt the Dortmund striker for the rest of his career: it would have taken Gabon through as group winners. As it is, though, Burkina Faso win the group. Congratulations to them.
90+4 min:Gabon hit the post in the last minute! Again it is Bouanga who causes the problem, this time hitting a fierce drive across goal, which clips the post, comes out to Ndong – with the goal at this mercy and Ondoa on the ground – who can only bobble a shot straight at the Cameroon goalkeeper, who does well to somehow turn the ball over the bar! Gabon so close to getting the goal that would win them the group, and knock Cameroon out!
90+2 min: And suddenly, Gabon spring into life! Where have they been for the last 45 minutes?! Bouanga twists and turns and goes down just inside the Cameroon penalty area … penalty?! No! The referee turns the appeals away!
90 min: Four minutes added on. Cameroon win a corner, they are playing the closing stages here in Gabon’s territory. Cameroon’s captain, Moukandjo, looks to the crowd, geeing them up. The crowd go wild.
85 min: Remember Gabon just need one goal and they go from being knocked out of their own tournament to group winners. Five minutes remaining. Mbingui, the substitute is at least trying to play the ball on the deck, although Cameroon’s midfield is defending very deep, crowding the space.
82 min: Cameroon win a corner and prepare to make a double change, Aboubakar comes on for Bassogog, who has comfortably been Cameroon’s best player. Strange substitution, Bassogog must be injured. Yep, he appears to be limping.
Ekambi replaces Ndip Tambe. NDong heads the corner away for Gabon.
77 min: There are some Gabon supporters leaving the ground. Gabon looks absolutely hapless right now: their coach José Antonio Camacho, who has managed Real Madrid twice, looks bereft of ideas. One final roll of the dice for the hosts, and an attacking change: Mbingui replaces Evouna.
76 min: Zoua replaces Salli, who comes onto the pitch screaming ‘Allez allez allez!” Just 14 minutes to go without conceding, and Cameroon are through. Concede, and they are out.
71 min: The Gabon players look knackered. Bassogog aside, the general quality of play is poor, not helped by the pitch, which is increasingly becoming cut up and bobbly. Remember the Stade de l’Amitie was only used for this match because the Stade Omar Bongo wasn’t finished in time: a stadium that cost $220m, and resembles little more than rubble, seven months behind schedule.
63 min: Poko has switched with Bouanga from the right flank to the left and he goes to work on Fai, winning a free-kick. Bouanga, positioned in a similar position to where Wayne Rooney scored his 250th goal for Manchester United yesterday, curls a similar effort towards the top corner, but Ondoa is equal to it, tipping it round the post.
Bertrand Traoré, the Chelsea striker on loan at Ajax, has got the goal. That means that Burkina Faso will top the group, with Cameroon in second place, Gabon will be eliminated with Guinea Bissau, if things stay the same.
55 min: Ze Ondo is being torn to pieces by Bassogog. The Cameroon winger feints right and goes left, leaving Ze Ondo behind, with the Gabon full back clipping Bassogog right on the edge of the area. Bassogog falls into the area and appeals for a penalty, but the referee rightly awards a free-kick right on the edge. Oyongo crashes his shot into the Gabon wall.
53 min: Cameroon are really turning the screw here. Another goal and you would think that would be curtains for Gabon in this tournament. Bassogog has started especially well, and cuts in from the right, squaring the ball to Siani on the edge of the area, and he crashes a powerful shot a yard wide of the post. No way Ovono was getting there if that was on target.
50 min: Cameroon hit the post! Ze Ondo fouls Bassogog on the right flank, and from the resulting free kick, Oyongo crashes a low shot goalwards. The shot looks destined for the bottom corner but Ovono gets down well to his left and tips the ball onto the outside of the post. No corner given! Let off for Gabon!
48 min: Having taken a blow to the face in the first half, Gabon’s right back Palun takes a knock on the knee. He gets some kind of cold-looking spray applied by the physio, which Palun looks particularly angry about. Anyway, he’s fine.
It’s half-time in the match between Guinea-Bussau and Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso are going through with Cameroon, as things stand. The two nations would have to draw lots to see who wins the group.
42 min: Two vastly different tackles: NKoulou makes an inch-perfect slide tackle to stop Bouanga in his tracks. Thirty seconds later, Aubameyang ducks out of a 50/50 with Oyongo. Not the kind of thing that the Gabon players want or need from their captain.
38 min: The fluency has gone out of the game. It’s becoming very stop-start with plenty of free kicks. I don’t think Aubameyang has kicked the ball in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, off the pitch …
34 min: Cameroon’s threat is almost exclusively an aerial one at the moment. With that in mind, I wonder how long it will be until we see Aboubakar. The Porto striker, on loan at Besiktas, is a real handful, and always impressed me when he was at Lorient.
30 min: Palun does well to head clear a cross, but is clattered by Salli in doing so, and lies crumpled on the turf, which is quite bobbly. There is a break in play whilst Palun gets some attention.
27 min: Gabon started like a train but it is Cameroon who is coming on the stronger now. The Indomitable Lions have had a couple of long-range pot shots and set-pieces but their captain, Moukandjo, is having more of an influence in the middle there.
22 min: Ondoa hurt himself in saving that Bouanga free-kick, replays showing that he collided badly with his own post as he dived backwards. It looks as though he’s going to be OK to continue though.
20 min: After a good spell of possession from Cameroon, Evouna does well to win a free-kick to get Gabon up the pitch, from which Bouanga tries an audacious effort from 40 yards, trying to catch Ondoa off-guard, who was well off his line. The ball loops up and looks to be sailing into the top corner, but Ondoa just gets back to tip the ball out for a corner. Not too dissimilar an effort to Ronaldinho’s goal against England back in 2002.
14 min: Oooooo, close from Cameroon! Gabon clear a Cameroon corner, but as the ball comes back into the box, 6ft2in centre-back Teikeu is left completely unmarked, but he can only glance his header past the far post. Should have scored! For all that Cameroon have been second best here, they could, perhaps should, have taken the lead there.
6 min: Cameroon’s right back, Fai, is simply unable to deal with Bouanga. The 22-year-old, who plays for Tours in Ligue 2, is proving a real handful. He nutmegs his marker on the edge of the box, and flashes a powerful shot just over the bar.
4 min: WHAT A MISS FROM AUBAMEYANG! This has to go down as the miss of the tournament, possibly the miss of the season. Gabon have come out of the traps so quickly, and Cameroon look extremely shaky at the back. Bouanga controls a beautiful diagonal pass, and shoots with his weaker left foot. The shot is dragged but turns into a perfect shot for Aubameyang, who is lurking at the back post. The ball comes quickly to him, but no more than two yards out, can only stud the ball wide of the far post. The Dortmund striker holds his head in his hands, and so he should.
2 min: What a chance for Gabon! Teikeu hesitates under the bounce and Evouna nips in to poke it past the Cameroon defender. Evouna is through on goal, but forced a little wide and chooses to roll the ball across the six-yard box to Bouanga, but Ondoa is brave and throws himself over the ball, smothering it well, somewhat making up for the earlier error.
1 min: Ondoa is known as one of the better young goalkeepers at this tournament but he has an absolute howler inside the first 30 seconds, dropping the ball at the feet of Aubangeyang on his own six-yard box. For a moment, there is panic as Cameroon’s defence scramble to hack the ball away, and they eventually do. Ondoa looks as his gloves inquisitively.
Peeeeeeeep! We’re underway in the Gabon capital, where I am pleased to say that there is a healthy crowd inside the Stade de l’Amitié. Cameroon neighbours Gabon, of course, so there’s a big contingent of Cameroon supporters making themselves heard.
It is worth noting that when Gabon arrived at the stadium, the players looked very sombre and focussed, whilst Cameroon’s players danced into the stadium as one unit. They looked very confident.
Guinea-Bissau v Burkina Faso, the other match in this group, is going on simultaneously in Franceville. We’ll keep an eye on that one for you as well.
A draw or win will secure Cameroon’s progress to the knock-out stage
Only a win will guarantee Gabon’s qualification, the same is true for Burkina Faso. Draw their games and they rely on results elsewhere. The two teams are are currently tied on two points and have also conceded and scored the same number of goals in their first two games.
Guinea-Bissau are bottom of Group A with one point, and must win their match to qualify, but can still win the group if results go their way.
Some news: Cameroon’s head coach Hugo Broos has said today that he would like Jöel Matip to play for the Indomitable Lions again one day. Matip withdrew himself for selection for Cameroon in this year’s tournament after being selected in the preliminary squad. He was then suspended from playing for his club side, Liverpool, but received clearance on Friday to play for the club again.
I’m very happy that this problem is solved and he can play again for Liverpool,” Broos said. “He made the decision not to come with us to the African Cup. I respect his decision but I also think the Cameroon Federation had to do what it has done because they are the Fifa rules and it’s too easy to say ‘no, I don’t come. But this problem is solved. For me, there is no problem any more and I still hope, as I have done since I was coach of Cameroon, that he will come back and play with us again.
It’s hard to not make this all about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. His father, Pierre Aubame, was Gabon’s captain in their famous victory over Cameroon in 1994, to help his country to their first ever Africa Cup of Nations finals. A country hit by violence, a national team, calls from some to boycott the tournament and with dwindling attendances this year – the first ever tournament that Gabon has hosted – more and more emphasis has been placed upon the 27-year-old, who has risen to the challenge to score both of his country’s two goals in their first two games, 1-1 draws against Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso.
In fact, Aubameyang has scored eight goals in his last 10 games games for club and country, and with both Juventus’s Mario Lemina sidelined with injury, the spotlight is well and truly on the Borussia Dortmund striker. They face a still task to beat Cameroon, who look resurgent after their 2-1 win over Guinea-Bissau. The last time Gabon beat Cameroon was in 2010, when a certain Daniel Cousins, previously of Rangers and Hull City, netted the only goal.
The last home country to win the tournament was Egypt in 2006. Cameroon start this game as group leaders with four points, but must get a point to secure qualification. “I think the biggest error we could make would be to play for a draw,” the Cameroon head coach Hugo Broos has said. “That is too dangerous. We will go out to win without doing anything stupid.”
