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 Denmark's Dennis Rommedahl (C) shoots to score past Cameroon's goalkeepr Hamidou Souleymanou during a 2010 World Cup Group E soccer match at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria June 19, 2010. [Agencies] |
PRETORIA, South Africa - The Indomitable Lions Cameroon were sent home following a 2-1 defeat to Denmak in a World Cup Group E match here on Saturday.
Cameroon's loss meant they became the first team to exit the World Cup and the Netherlands, with six points to their credit, the first to make the last 16.
In their two previous meetings, both friendly matches, the two teams each had one win.
Six minutes into the game, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o fired a right footed shot wide.
The Inter Milan forward voiced before the match he would give it all in the match and he did so. At the 10th minute, Eto'o blazed past the Danish keeper Thomas Sorensen, scoring the first goal for Cameroon in the World Cup.
Thus Eto'o ended an eight year-drought after scoring his first World Cup goal in 2002.
However, Denmark leveled the score at the 33rd minute when Nicklas Bendtner powered home a right footer.
At the 61st minute, Denmark notched up the upper hand as Dennis Rommedahl beat Cameroon's midfielder Jean Makoun to slot home a left-foot shot.
With one goal down, Cameroon tried to even the score by taking more ball possession. At the 65th minute, one of Cameroon's chances was denied when Webo's header went wide.
At the 81st minute, Mohamadou Idrissou's header from close range missed the target. Cameroon was on the brink of exit.
Cameroon's last chance came at the 89th minute but a corner kick came to nothing, and they were knocked out of the World Cup after two losses and this was also Denmark's first match to come from behind in the World Cup.
Thus Denmark continued their unbeaten record against African teams in the World Cup, previously having drawn with Senegal and South Africa, and beaten Nigeria.
"It is a great disappointment as we had a lot of chances. This shows that we are not effective enough," said disappointed Cameroon's head coach Paul Le Guen. "We had a lot of strikes, we struck the post, the straight bar, but we have given our best. We will certainly return with regret, but I will not resign."
Le Guen used to be a French international defender. He had led Lyon to three consecutive French Ligue 1 titles. In 2009, he took over as the coach of Cameroon and steered the team to straight wins in the last four matches of World Cup qualifiers.
Morten Olsen, Denmark's coach since 2000, said: "We did start very well, then we made an error, but we showed commitment and we got back and we won."
"We did get a lot of chances and we could have scored more goals," added he. "We had some elementary mistakes today, but we had a heroic fight and defence."
Denmark will face Japan in their final group match on June 24 when Cameroon will make their last appearance against the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup which came to the African continent for the first time.
