Football: Cameroon over the moon, Spain in pain

By CHRIS RATTUE

The Olympics and football have been strange bedfellows but at Stadium Australia, their uneasy alliance produced a gold-medal match of genius and high drama.

Football, a participant at every Olympics bar one since 1908, wants to protect its own World Cup.

So the sport's governing body, FIFA, restricts the Olympic players to under-23s except for three over-age players in each team.

The IOC is desperate for soccer and its world stars, so would prefer no age restrictions.

But the mix of young flair and the Olympic stage reached near perfection on Saturday. Cameroon and Spain, who finished with nine men on the pitch, played out a supreme Olympic final.

Cameroon won on a penalty shootout, after it was 2-all following 30 minutes of extra time, to claim their country's first Olympic gold medal.

All penalty shootouts produce a strange drama of their own.

They often end with the final goalscorer heading to the crowd in celebration, with his team mates in delighted pursuit. They almost always end with some poor victim of this form of torture being consoled for the soccer sin of missing a penalty.

Shootouts are both cruel and compelling. You could mount great arguments for their abolition or retention.

In front of a massive crowd which gave almost total support to the African side, it was defender Pierre Wome who stroked home his side's fifth and final penalty while Spanish defender Amaya was consoled by two team mates.

Amaya's shootout horror was even worse as he was the only one to miss in the shootout, and had already conceded an own goal which sparked Cameroon's revival.

He walked back calmly after his shot hit the crossbar, but as Cameroon celebrated soon after, the tears began to flow as trainers and team mates hugged him.

It was the final act in a game of high drama.

Spain, who chose not to include over-age players, led 2-0 at halftime.

Their first came just a minute into the match when Xavi struck with a free kick on the edge of the penalty box.

Three minutes later Cameroon's 16-year-old goalkeeper, Idriss Kameni, saved a penalty from Angulo.

Kameni, who left his homeland to train with a French club at the age of 12, has set his sights on playing for a team of Manchester United quality and is expected to command a major fee following these Olympics.

Spain scored their second on halftime when Gabri, who came on midway through the half, was let free and he held off a defender to push the ball pass Kameni.

Spain's joy quickly evaporated in the second half.

A cross from the 30-year-old Patrick Mboma, who plays for Parma in Italy, ricocheted off Amaya's chest into the goal.

Cameroon's second goal had nothing to do with luck.

Captain and right back Geremi Njitap Fotso started it from deep in his half, Mboma played over a superb low cross, and Samuel Eto'o Fils finished it off.

Spain had goalscorer Gabri sent off by Mexican referee Felipe de Ramos Rizo for a wicked challenge in the 69th minute. And striker Jose Mari was dismissed in the first minute of golden goal extra time for a second yellow card.

Cameroon by then had total control of the game, their skills leaving a depleted Spanish side showing courage and organisation to keep them at bay as the Africans switched the ball all over the field.

The statistics told of their dominance: 17 corners to one, 22 shots to eight, and 11 shots on goal to four.

Those things don't matter, though, in shootouts, and if Spain survived until then it was back to square one.

"A penalty shootout is not something you really want to go into," said Cameroon coach Jean-Paul Akono.

Amaya would agree.