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Lions late roar sets up final showdown with Spain
SYDNEY, Sept 26 (AFP) - Cameroon's Indomitable Lions produced a late roar to sink Chile and set up a showdown with Spain for the Olympic men's football title. Two goals in the last six minutes gave Cameroon a 2-1 win in their Melbourne semi-final and a crack at keeping the title Nigeria won four years ago in Atlanta in Africa. Spain, the 1992 gold medallists, clinched their place in Saturday's final with a convincing 3-1 defeat of the United States. Spanish coach Inaki Saez Ruiz admitted he would have preferred to face the Chileans than the unpredictable Africans. "We would have known a lot more about Chile than we do about Cameroon," he said. "But we do know that Cameroon will be a formidable opponent as they have beaten Brazil and now Chile." But Ruiz is confident his team can emulate their predeccesors of eight years ago, who had the advantage of playing on home soil. "We lost to Chile which was a set-back but then we beat Italy, who are the European champions, and now we are in the final so our morale has gone from negative to positive," he said. "It was a deserved victory but at 2-1 anything can happen so I was glad we scored the third goal." US coach Clive Charles said his side had suffered from the effects of their win on penalties over Japan in the previous round. "We played 120 minutes of hard football then had all the emotions of a penalty shoot-out and that took its toll," he said. "They were a yard quicker today but I'm not disappointed in my team because they have been fabulous throughout the tournament." He predicted the Spaniards would grab gold in the final. "Cameroon are very good individually but Spain play better as a team and keep possession," he said. AC Milan striker Jose Mari was the man who inspired Spain, setting up first half goals for Tamudo and Angulo then rounding things off with his own late effort. "Jose Mari was involved in everything today. He has gone from a minus to a plus, plus," said Ruiz. An 89th minute penalty from Arsenal's Lauren Etame Mayer sealed Cameroon's victory as the Chileans were made to pay a heavy price for squandering a bucketload of second half chances. Patrick Mboma, the Parma forward who played for Cameroon in the last World Cup, was the hero, firing home the equaliser after 84 minutes then winning the decisive penalty. His burst into the Chilean box drew a wild, lunging tackle from Pablo Contreras and the French referee Stephane Bre had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Chile had looked like they were on their way to the final when they took the lead with less than a quarter of an hour to play, after the Cameroon back four allowed a hopeful Chilean punt upfield to float over their heads, putting Sebastian Gonzalez in the clear. Cameroon keeper Idriss Kameni managed to stop the midfielder's shot but the ball slammed straight into defender Patrice Abanda and back into the net. Chile should have gone on to kill the game off minutes later when another defensive blunder allowed Claudio Maldonado to break free with only Kameni to beat. With three other Chileans screaming for the ball he somehow managed to sidefoot it straight at the Cameroon goalkeeper.
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