{"id":3996,"date":"2026-01-05T01:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/3996\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:11:15","slug":"cameroon-beat-south-africa-to-reach-afcon-quarter-final-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/3996\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon beat South Africa to reach AFCON quarter-final spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goals either side of half-time by Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane took\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0through\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0Africa\u00a0Cup of Nations<\/a> quarter-finals at\u00a0South\u00a0Africa’s expense on Sunday as the Indomitable Lions edged their\u00a0last-16 clash 2-1.<\/p>\n

Tchamadeu opened the scoring in the 34th minute at Al Medina Stadium in Rabat and teenage Bayer Leverkusen forward Kofane headed in the crucial second goal two minutes after half-time.<\/p>\n

A late rally from\u00a0South\u00a0Africa\u00a0saw Evidence Makgopa pull one back, but it is\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0<\/a>who go through, and the five-time champions now play hosts Morocco in a heavyweight quarter-final on Friday.<\/p>\n

They can go into that match in relaxed mood, knowing all the pressure is on Morocco <\/a>as they look\u00a0to\u00a0win a first\u00a0AFCON\u00a0title in 50 years in front of their home support.<\/p>\n

“I want\u00a0to\u00a0savour this victory first of all. The game against Morocco is still a long way away,” said\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0coach David Pagou.<\/p>\n

“The lads are celebrating just now. We suffered today even though we won, and I think we all need a rest.”<\/p>\n

Read moreMorocco and Cameroon to meet in quarter final<\/a><\/p>\n

For\u00a0Cameroon, reaching the\u00a0last\u00a0eight\u00a0means their\u00a0AFCON\u00a0is already a success after a chaotic build-up in which football federation president and Indomitable Lions legend Samuel Eto’o sacked coach Marc Brys, replacing him with Pagou.<\/p>\n

The new coach got the better of\u00a0South\u00a0Africa’s Hugo Broos, who had promised\u00a0to\u00a0show no mercy\u00a0to\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0nine years after leading them\u00a0to\u00a0their\u00a0last\u00a0continental crown at the Cup of Nations in Gabon.<\/p>\n

There will be major disappointment for Bafana Bafana, who finished third at the\u00a0last\u00a0AFCON\u00a0two years ago, but they can console themselves by turning their attentions towards the upcoming World Cup.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is very disappointed and sad that we are eliminated today,” said Broos.<\/p>\n

“We had three open chances in the first half an hour and normally the game has\u00a0to\u00a0be done then, but we paid the bill with a lucky goal (for\u00a0Cameroon),” he added.<\/p>\n

“Then unfortunately very soon in the second half they get a second goal and then you know it will be very difficult.”<\/p>\n

Read moreBrahim Diaz shines as Morocco reaches AFCON quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n

Eto’o in attendance\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Relebohile Mofokeng squandered a golden opportunity fpr\u00a0South\u00a0Africa\u00a0inside seven minutes, blazing over after finding himself in on goal when\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0defender Che Malone failed\u00a0to\u00a0deal with a simple ball forward.<\/p>\n

Lyle Foster then had the ball in the net only\u00a0to\u00a0be denied by the offside flag, and instead\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0went in front just after the half-hour mark.<\/p>\n

When the\u00a0South\u00a0African<\/a> defence could only partially clear a corner, the ball fell\u00a0to\u00a0Carlos Baleba on the edge of the area.<\/p>\n

He took a touch and tried a shot which was deflected into the path of Tchamadeu and the London-born full-back with Stoke City rolled home from close range.<\/p>\n

That goal — confirmed after a long VAR check — was celebrated by the Cameroonian fans who made up the majority of the 14,127 crowd, with two-time\u00a0AFCON\u00a0winner as a player Eto’o among those in attendance.<\/p>\n

South\u00a0Africa\u00a0would have been hoping for a strong start\u00a0to\u00a0the second half but instead\u00a0Cameroonscored again within two minutes of the restart.<\/p>\n

Substitute Mahamadou Nagida crossed from the left and Kofane headed in his second goal of the tournament so far.<\/p>\n

Cameroon\u00a0goalkeeper Devis Epassy then made good saves from Samukele Kabini and from a Teboho Mokoena free-kick before Makgopa turned in a low cross by fellow substitute Aubrey Modiba on 88 minutes.<\/p>\n

That set up a grandstand finish, but\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0nervously held on.<\/p>\n

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goals either side of half-time by Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane took\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0through\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0Africa\u00a0Cup of Nations quarter-finals at\u00a0South\u00a0Africa’s expense on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[146,143,311,131,310],"class_list":{"0":"post-3996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-africa-cup-of-nations","9":"tag-cameroon","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-south-africa","12":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}