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Cameroon
scored all its goals in an 11-minute span of the first half
to defeat a young and inexperienced Somalia team 3-0 in their
World Cup qualifying match.
Somalia,
fielding a team in a Cup qualifier for the first time in nearly
two decades, rarely threatened the stronger African champions,
who dominated offensively throughout.
Only the
heroics of Somalian goalkeeper Abdelkadi Mohammed Hassan,
who made numerous saves, prevented the score from being even
more lopsided.
Cameroon's
star was midfielder Salomon Olembe, a regular for French first
division team F.C. Nantes, who set up the first and third
goals with fancy passing.
Patrick
Mboma opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 26th
minute and Cameroonian sniper Marc-Vivien Foe transformed
a foul advantage several minutes later with a 35-meter (38-yard)
drive that beat Hassan. Samuel to'o Fils scored the third
goal on a pass from Mboma in the 37th minute.
In the
second half, which was played almost entirely in Somalia's
defensive zone, Somalia pulled back into a defensive shell,
forming a human wall to shield the goal.
Hassan
made a diving save to stop a 53rd minute penalty taken by
Pierre Wome Nlend. "I would have wanted at least two to three
more goals during the second half.
However,
my boys did the essentials by scoring three goals at the beginning,"
said Cameroon coach Pierre le Chantre. More than 35,000 spectators
watched the game at the Amadou Ahidjo stadium.
The second
leg of the two-match series will also be played in Yaounde
on Sunday due to security problems in Somalia. Cameroon won
the African Nations' Cup over Nigeria two months ago.
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