2018 World Cup: Cameroon fail to qualify after Nigeria draw
African champions Cameroon cannot
qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia after a 1-1 draw with
Nigeria in Yaounde on Monday.
The result means Cameroon have just three points from four matches and can no longer finish top of Group B.
"There's
no-one in life who achieves all his goals [but] it's a disappointment,"
Indomitable Lions coach Hugo Broos said after the game.
In Monday's other match, Libya earned a 1-0 win over Guinea in Group A.
Nigeria
took the lead in Yaounde after 30 minutes through Moses Simon but their
hosts equalised with 15 minutes to go through a Vincent Aboubakar
penalty.
The Super Eagles' goal came after Cameroon failed to clear and Simon profited after touches from Odion Ighalo and Victor Moses.
On
the hour, Cameroon coach Hugo Broos made two changes as Vincent
Aboubakar and Christian Bassagog came on to replace Benjamin Moukandjo
and Jean-Pierre Nsame.
The changes had the desired affect as the
Indomitable Lions pushed forward and forced Nigeria's third choice
keeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa into a foul in the area.
Aboubakar stepped up to score the penalty in the 75th minute firing the ball straight down the middle.
But
Ezenwa made amends for the penalty error with two saves in quick
succession to deny first Nicolas Moumi and moments later Collins Fai.
The other match in Group B sees Algeria host Zambia in Constantine later on Tuesday.
A
win for Zambia will take them to seven points, just three behind
Nigeria with two games to play - while Algeria must win to keep alive
any slim hopes they still have of going to Russia.
In Monastir,
Libya got their first points of this stage of the campaign despite being
down to 10 men for the last quarter of their match against Guinea.
Hamdou Mohamed scored the only goal of the game towards the end of the first half.
Should
Tunisia get a point against DR Congo on Tuesday, then both Libya and
Guinea will be formally ruled out of contention for Russia 2018.
BBC
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