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Hosts Cameroon produced an incredible comeback from three goals down before beating Burkina Faso on penalties in the third-place play-off match at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
Only 48 hours after their crushing defeat on penalties against Egypt in their semi-fnal, this time Cameroon came through a shootout to secure the bronze medal.
The game look finished after Steeve Yago, an own goal from Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana and Djibril Ouattara put Burkina Faso into a commanding 3-0 lead.
But Stephane Bahoken pulled one back late and then half-time substitute Vincent Aboubakar scored twice in three minutes late on to force penalties. In scoring twice, Aboubakar went to eight goals and he is on course to secure the golden boot.
Oyongo Bitolo scored the winning penalty for Cameroon after Onana had saved Blati toures spotkick to ensure the host nation ended the tournament on a high.
It was tough on Burkina Faso but they can reflect on a good tournament.
What happened today is a repeat of an action packed game that took place in 1998 when Burkina Faso led 4-1 and Cameroon came back to make it 4-4.
Into the game;
This game started off at equal length as both sides were openly attacking each other but the first real chance for Cameroon came on 17 minutes.
And it’s was a brilliant double save From Farid Ouedraogo who palmed out a cross and then reacted quickly to save a follow up shot from Jean Onana. The second shot was straight at him but it goes down as a good save but looked like the ball hit him flush in the face, and got he lay to get treatment.
In the 24th minute, it was bad news for the hosts as the Stalions went in front through that Yago goal. In the build up it was one full-back to another after a good cross from the right found its way to back post and Yago who had made a late run fired into the roof of the net.
It was a nightmare for Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana two minutes to the end of half time as Issa Kabore who had had a really good game set up the goal and got to the byline on the right to dig out a cross that Onana made a complete mess of and spillt it into his own net.
After various VAR checks to see if the ball had gone out, replays showed that it was clearly still in and the goal stood.
But a few minutes before Cameroon had claimed for a penalty because of a handball on Kabore but the referee waved play on and VAR were also satisfied that there was nothing from it. And the game went into the halftime break with the Burkinabe leading by two.
At the start of the second half, Aboubakar and Ngalemeu were introduced on by Cameroon to come save the latter but no sooner had they been brought them on than Burkina Faso ‘s Djibril Ouattara scored the Stallions’ third after brilliant play by Traore who crossed for the forward to finish off with a powerful header past Onana.
Too harsh it was on Cameroon because it was only 48 hours after they had blown off, crushing of a defeat against Egypt and they had made nine changes in this particular one. But this was a poor performance.
With 19 minutes to go on the clock, Bahoken who was booked two minutes into the second half, pulled one back to give the hosts some hope but the question was could they mount a comeback in the final 20 minutes?
With seven to the 90, Farid Ouedraogo the Burkina Faso goal keeper pulled off a brilliant save
after Bahoken fired an effort goalwards from point-blank range after sustained pressure from Cameroon. But there was a feeling that Bahoken should have done better there.
In the 85th minute, Aboubakar Vincent got the second goal of the night for the Indomitable Lions after the Burkina Faso goalkeeper Ouedraogo got underneath a corner and Aboubakar headed home to keeps Cameroon in the game.
Two minutes later, the same person, Aboubakar Vincent the Cameroon forward and arguably the top scorer of this tournament incredibly added another to his tally to make it 3 all from 3-0 down.
However after the celebrations, VAR took sometime checking the goal for a foul on the goalkeeper as the host nation held it’s breath. But eventually the goal was allowed.
That goal saw Aboubakar equal Patrick M’Boma’s Cameroon goal mark to become the country’s third-leading scorer in football history.
Next up was the shootout to determine the winner. There, Onana went from villain to hero by stopping Ibrahim Toure’s kick, thus denying Kamou Malo’s men a chance of returning home with the bronze medal.
