Cameroon’s elite forward line came through on Friday in their 3-1 victory over Mozambique, moving the Indomitable Lions back within reach of Group D leaders Cote d’Ivoire. Eric Choupo-Moting scored a goal in each half and Karl Toko Ekambi made it a three-goal lead for the hosts to overwhelm the Mambas, who remain in last place in the group with only one point from three games. Cameroon are now on six points and are one back of the Elephants before heading back to Mozambique for the return fixture.
The opening stretch of the match was quiet but later on in the first half, Cameroon found their breakthrough to tally first. In the 28th minute, right back Olivier Mbaizo threw the ball in to midfielder Martin Hongla, who sent in a high arcing ball to the far post. Bayern Munich forward Choupo-Moting rose up and looped a perfectly placed header that left Mozambique keeper Ernest Siluane motionless as the ball settled into the far corner.
Despite poor form in their qualifying campaign, Mozambique had their chances to make the match interesting. Young playmaker Geny Catamo was quite impressive throughout, and the 20-year-old who plays his club football for Sporting in Portugal was at the heart of all the dangerous moments for the Mambas. In the 35th minute, Katamo opened up the Cameroonian defense with some nifty movement on the ball before setting up Dayo Antonio, whose low shot clearly had keeper Devis Epassy Mboka beat but rolled just wide.
Antonio had another opportunity on the other side of halftime to equalize in the 51st minute. A long ball was poorly played by the Cameroon center back Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui, allowing Antonio in with time to size up his finish as Epassy ran out to close him down. However, the forward attempted to lift his shot over the advancing Epassy and instead hit a tame chest-high effort that the OFI Crete custodian snatched with ease.
Only a minute later, the hosts made Mozambique pay for their mistakes. A Moumi Ngamaleu corner kick found Choupo-Moting making a run to the near post, who sent a bouncing header towards the Mozambican goal. Siluane attempted to fight the shot off with a brushing motion, but instead committed a howler and allowed the ball to bounce off his chest and just inside the near post for Cameroon’s second. Twelve minutes later another corner undid the defense of the visitors when Frank Zambo Anguissa played a short corner and received the ball to play a cross, finding Toko Ekambi for a header towards the far post that beat Siluane.
Cameroon let their guard down in the final thirty minutes a bit, but the cushion was sufficient even after Catamo got a deserved goal by dispossessing a careless Ngadeu-Ngadjui to beat Epassy on the subsequent breakaway. Highlights of the match are in the button link below.
