Before the
match:
Mali, lifted by a late rescuing
strike in their opening match, have made the most out of their chances.
They have gained momentum and confidence throughout the tournament and
will go into the match with the African champions without fear. They will
be backed by an enthusiastic homecrowd and have proven in the match against
Nigeria that they have to be considered a serious challenger to the big
ones.
But Cameroon will not repeat
the mistake of the South Africans to surrender the midfield completely.
They will seek to pose a greater number of questions to the Malian defence
which has not always looked like concrete especially against quick balls
into attack. Here comes the question of midfield dominance into consideration.
Yet Mali have been very good in dominating midfield. Against Cameroon they
might lose more one on one situations which would be the basis for those
quick balls into attacks. Also Cameroon are the only team yet that has
been effectively using dangerous throw ins and been dangerous by pressing
on the defenders during build up ball circulations. The better pitch in
the Bamako stadium might relief Mali here a bit.
Mali are the only team to
have conceded a goal of the four semi-finalists.
odds:
Cameroon are 47% favorites
(decimal odds 1.91), Mali are assessed a good outsider chance at 24% (3.75),
draw 30% (3.0) (after 90 minutes)
*odds are subject to adjustment
by the sportsbook
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1st half
-Cameroon without Patrick
Mboma, a real test for their depth as he has become a symbol for
the team like Song and the key player in attack.
-Cameroon in yellow stockings,
red shorts and green shirts. Mali in all white.
-physical beginning,
Cameroon is leaving no space to Malians
-('10) Cameroon: Geremi
has advanced on the right wing, is stopped for a corner. This one finds
Song who heads unchallenged but it is deflected for a corner - dangerous
-('11) Mali in difficulties
with the Cameroon pressure, third corner in 2 minutes
-('13) snapshot: Cameroon
try a lot over the right hand side with Geremi and Lauren but now they
face four opponents trying to close down that side
-('16) Cameroon: Pius NDiefi
(Sedan, France) who is the replacement for Mboma makes an electrifying
run into the penalty area and fires from half right but hits only the outside
of the net
-up to here this match
looks different for Mali than the ones played yet: It is rather Cameroon
who are dominating midfield but Mali trying to await them with good organisation
(two rows of four) and answer with quick long balls into attack
-('24) Cameroon break thrrough
on the right hand side but Geremis cross on Ndiefi too inaccurate
-('28) Mali: #10 Soumaila
Coulibaly tries from long range but wide
-Mali have some good minutes,
Cameroon circle the ball around in defence, they seem to intend to calm
the situation but then try a sudden long ball - offside
-('32) free kick Cameroon:
they try a trick play between Geremi and Olembe but Seydou Keita has been
well alerted and spoils the party
-with NDiefi the character
of Cameroon attacks has changed a bit. He has not the physical presence
of Mboma but the mobility and quickness like Eto'o
-a period of camerooon
domination around the 35th minute
-('39) the new Cameroonian
quickness pays off: Ndiefi escapes his defender reaches the groundline,
makes a pass back to Olembe who shoves the ball into the wide open goal
- no chance for Sidibe, the Malian keeper - 0:1
-defender Diarra has
moved himself out of play with an attempted flying tackle when he was chasing
Ndiefi
-('41) Mali respond: #11
Djibril Sidibe with a long range effort, takes a menacing deflection curve
but goes out for a corner
-('45) fantastic speedy
goal by Cameroon: a one-two between Olembe and Ndiefi, Olembe leaves the
keeper no chance - 0:2
halftime 0:2
Cameroon have made clear
there is a class between the champions and a still not bad playing
Mali. Credit to the decision to use Ndiefi's speed against the physical
Malian defenders
2nd half
-('52) Mali try to attack
and it looks good how they are spread on the field - still they face Cameroon
-Cameroon have not lost
any concentration
-('56) Malian keeper perfectly
intercepts a cross againts a dangerous looking Cameroon attack
-Mali try all they have
learned but they face a resilient Cameroon defence
-('59) Cameroon: yellow
against Geremi for a handball
-('65) promising attack
by Mali but all they can get from it is a long range attempt by Sidibe.
It takes some tricky bounces but can eventually be controlled by Cameroonian
keeper Alioum.
-Cameroon continue to
work focussed. They pose a permanent threat to the Malian defence who so
far does not take any big chances
-('70) but even against
crowded defence Cameroon are hard to stop: Eto'o has only some centimeters
space but this is enough to take a cross directly. It bounces back from
the crossbar onto the field - no goal
-('73) Mali: Bagayoko seems
to get yellow as he fouls keeper Alioum who wants to kick away the ball
out of his hands
-('74) Cameroon score but
it is refused for a very close offside decision, not sure whether right
or not
-('75) Mali: For once Seydou
Keita achieves to dribble past defenders but his cross is still well defended
against
-Mali start to take more
chances. It seems to open more spaces for cameroon
-('77) Mali: this time it
is Bagayoko who encroaches into danger zone on the same right hand attacking
side as Keita before. His cross does not find another attacker
-('79) Mali: a cross finds
defender Adama Coulibaly who unleashes a header but Alioum saves well.
The header could not be too powerful as the cross had not been sharp.
-this have been some
minutes with definitive Malian domination
-('81) the Cameroon counter
becomes stopped but Mali lose the ball again and Lauren hits the goalpost
with a powerful diagonal low shot
-('82) Cameroon: Suffo in
for Ndiefi
-('84) great directly
played counter attack: triangle play Eto'o - Suffo, finished off by Foe
- 0:3
-('88) Cameroon almost add
a fourth as they attack with even more players now, relieved from any carefulness
considerations
-('89) another dangerous
attack by cameroon, but not as well eexecuted and stopped by the Malian
defenders
-('90) Cameroon: Ngom in
for Olembe
-('90+3) Suffo with a dangerous
shot just wide, Djemba comes in for Eto'o but only for a second as the
referee blows the whistle
final score 0:3
Cameroon just perfect.
Mali played relatively well
anyway but never came even near scoring. They just faced too strong opposition
this time.
Reports say that before
the match Malian riot police arrested and mishandled Cameroon assistant
coach Nkono (the former goalkeeper) apparently for alleged 'black magic'.
After intervention by the CAF he was released again but it seems to have
worked well as extra motivation for the Cameroonian players who were able
to convert it into a constructive effort on the pitch.
Later the incident was
reported differently by CAF: Nkono is reported to have refused to show
his accreditation badge and refused to obey directions by the police. For
insultsat CAF officials he meanwhile has been handed a one year ban. Coach
Winnie Schaefer who had been at the side of Nkono at the incident has received
a one match ban for insulting a CAF official.
match data as published
by CAF Online:
Referee: Lim Kee Chong
(Mauritius)
Ass. Referees: Taoufik
Adjengui (TUN), A. Jeddaoui (MOR)
Attendance: 50,000
Scorers:
Cameroon: Salomon Olembe
40, 45, Marc-Vivien Foe 84
Teams
Mali: 1-Mahamadou Sidibe;
2-Daouda Diakite (14-Vincent Doukantie, 46), 4-Adama Coulibaly, 5-Fousseini
Diawara, 15-Boubacar Diarra (3-Samba Diawara, 46), 11-Djbril Sidibe (18-Mahamadou
Dissa, 73), 12-Seydou Keita, 8-Bassala Toure, 10-Soumaila Coulibaly, 6-Mahamadou
Diarra, 9-Mamadou Bagayoko
Cameroon: 1-Boukar Alioum;
2-Bill Tchato, 3-Pierre Wome, 4-Rigobert Song, 5-Raymond Kalla, 8-Geremi,
12-Lauren, 17-Marc-Vivien Foe, 20-Salomon Olembe (21-Daniel Ngom Kome,
89), 9-Samuel Eto (18-Eric Djemba Djemba, 89), 11-Pius Ndiefi (19-Patrick
Suffo, 83)
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