Yaounde: Cameroon has declared Monday a public holiday to celebrate its national soccer team's Olympic gold medal.
Sydney: Cameroon won their first ever gold medal in any Olympic sport on Saturday when they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with nine-man Spain and then beat them 5-3 on penalties in a remarkable soccer final.
Sydney: The only certainty about Saturday’s Olympic soccer final between Spain and Cameroon is that it will pit European pragmatism against African power and exuberance.Cameroon are bidding for their first Olympic gold in any sport having reached the final with last-gasp 2-1 knockout victories over Brazil and Chile.They want to emulate Nigeria who became the first African side to take a major global competition by winning gold in Atlanta in 1996.They also want to complete a great double by adding the Olympic title to their victory in the African Nations Cup earlier this year.They are a hard-running, powerful side who
Melbourne: Cameroon scored twice in the last six minutes on Tuesday to snatch a dramatic Olympic soccer semi-final victory against Chile and keep alive their hopes of winning gold in Saturday's final.Lauren, of English Premier League club Arsenal, scored from a penalty in the 89th minute to clinch the win after a closely fought match which remained scoreless until the 78th minute.Cameroon coach Jean-Paul Akono said afterwards his team now hoped to become only the second African nation after Nigeria to win Olympic soccer gold."Gold has always been our objective and Nigeria paved the way for African football in 1996.
Sydney: Stadium Australia, the glittering centre-piece of the Sydney Olympics, will be transformed overnight on Friday from an athletics to a soccer venue for the final of the men's competition between Spain and Cameroon.An army of volunteers will work through the night to remove all the paraphernalia of an athletics meeting then cut the grass on the in-field, mark out the pitch and erect the goals in time for the match which kicks off at noon.Walter Sieber, FIFA's soccer co-ordinator in Sydney said the whole process should be completed by early on Saturday morning."I will be at the stadium by
Sydney: Chile's 104-year wait for Olympic gold could end this week if strikers Ivan Zamorano and Reinaldo Navia maintain the scoring form that has swept them into the soccer semi-finals for the first time.Chile have won only six silver and two bronze medals since 1896 - and none since a silver in shooting in 1988.Now the sharp-shooting in front of goal by Inter-Milan's Zamorano and Navia of Santiago Wanderers, has made gold a real possibility.But Cameroon will have their own ideas about that when they meet the Chileans on Tuesday in front of an expected 75,000 crowd at the Melbourne
Melbourne: Chile, surprise semi-finalist in the Olympic soccer tournament, sent out a warning to opponents who might underestimate the goal-blitzing South Americans.Chile blew away defending gold medallists Nigeria in Saturday's quarter-final, scoring two goals in two minutes in the first half on the way to a comprehensive 4-1 win."I think they went in overconfident and they underestimated Chile according to comments that were coming out from the Nigerian camp before the game," Chile coach Nelson Acosta said. "I think Chile started winning from the dressing room."The victory sets up a semi-final on Tuesday against Cameroon who scored a
Sydney: Only one team lodged a protest during the opening week of Olympic boxing, but some ringside judges are not scoring enough body blows, amateur boxing officials said on Saturday.International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) general secretary Loring Baker said Cameroon was the only country to complain formally after a defeat and it was rejected.That first round fight involved Canadian light middleweight Scott MacIntosh, who beat Sakio Bika Mbah 8-5, and Cameroon's protest was against the referee.Baker did voice concern about body blows, however, citing the case of light-flyweight world champion Brian Viloria of the United States, who lost 6-4 to
Gold Coast: Coach Wanderley Luxemburgo said on Friday he would change Brazil's line-up to face Cameroon in the Olympic soccer quarter-final on Saturday after studying videos of their first round matches against the United States, Kuwait and the Czech Republic.Luxemburgo has brought in Rennes striker Lucas to replace Geovanni – in attack at least for the first half - while Athirson takes Fabio Aurelio's place in defence. Fabio Aurelio moves into the left side of mid field into the spot vacated by Edu, who is suspended after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament when Brazil beat Japan