Cameroon: At the FIFA World Cup, no Afircan team had ever beaten Brazil. At the Lusail, the Indomitable Lions rewrote history.
At the FIFA World Cup, no African team had ever defeated Brazil.
Cameroon broke the drought with a spectacular victory at the Lusail.
Victory was celebrated by Vincent Aboubakar and Rigobert Song.
Five countries had tried. They’d had seven tries in total. Continental demigods like Roger Milla, Mustapha Hadji, Asamoah Gyan, Yaya Toure, and Didier Drogba had led those tilts.
No African team had ever defeated Brazil in the FIFA World Cup
Despite this, no African team had ever defeated Brazil in the FIFA World CupTM. In reality, they’d never come close. A Seleço had won all seven of those games, scoring 20 goals and conceding only two.
The setting for statistic amplification would be Lusail Stadium. Cameroon, after all, was on a one-point streak out of a possible 27 at the World Cup, close to matching Mexico’s competition record for consecutive losses (nine). Since Milla punished Rene Higuita and Colombia 32 years ago, they’d only won once, 1-0 over Saudi Arabia in 2002.
They lacked a player capable of filling the shoes of Thomas N’Kono, Theophile Abega, Milla, Joseph-Antoine Bell, Patrick M’Boma, or Samuel Eto’o. The Indomitable Lions had lost their tenacity.
After all, Brazil hadn’t lost a group-stage game in 24 years, and this wasn’t any ordinary Brazil team. They were the tournament favourites.
On the blow of Facundo Tello’s whistle, the beating would begin. And so it was. Gabriel Martinelli started driving down the left lane at them. On the right, Antony was doing the same thing.
Nonetheless, they encountered an implacable barrier. Goalkeeper Devis Epassy, as well as centre-backs Enzo Ebosse and Christopher Wooh, all came into this tournament with 14 caps between them, but all started on the bench. Cameroon, on the other hand, did the impossible: they stopped Brazil from scoring.
Bryan Mbeumo
Ederson’s save of the tournament contender from Bryan Mbeumo appeared to have ensured that Brazil would also prevent Cameroon from scoring. Then, in second-half stoppage time, Vincent Aboubakar clinically headed Tello’s final whistle at the Lusail etched an African miracle into history. At the eighth attempt, an African team had avoided defeat against Brazil. Cameroon had also defeated the five-time world champions.
Unfortunately for the Indomitable Lions, four points in Group G were not enough to get them past the survivors’ gate. Nonetheless, they can look back on one of Africa’s best results in this competition.
“I’m so proud of my players,” Rigobert Song said. “This is such a historic outcome. My players deserve all of the accolades.
“Of course, we regret. We wanted to proceed. But we must also look on the bright side. This is a huge victory for Cameroon and Africa.an exceptional Jerome Ngom Mbekeli cross into the bottom corner.
“I’ve been attempting to instil a team spirit, a lion’s spirit, and I believe you can see this.” We return home, but we return having defeated Brazil and demonstrating that we can compete with anyone.”
“It’s a shame the other result didn’t go our way,” Aboubakar added, “but we can go home with our heads held high.” Cameroon had won the World Cup for the first time in years.
“It was a fantastic win, and I’m confident that this result will set us up well for the future.” We have talented young players, but we must wait until 2026.”
The wait for World Cup number 23 will be insignificant in comparison to Africa’s wait for victory over Brazil. On December 2, 2022, 36 years of agony came to an end. The Indomitable Lions finally defeated the invincible.
