‘Golden bronze’ as painkiller for Cameroonians 

Cameroonians took to the streets in celebration of the bronze medal won by the Indomitable Lions against a wasteful Stallions of Burkina Faso on Saturday night.
 
The hosts came back from three goals down to beat Burkina Faso on penalties to win bronze following a 3-3 stalemate in the third-place match at the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations.

As customary with victory, the atmosphere has changed in all nooks and crannies of Cameroon. The people see the bronze medal as a painkiller.
 
The victory was made sweeter by the unfamiliar route it came through. After the Stallions of Burkina Faso raced to a 3-0 lead on Saturday night, virtually all the fans, including those watching inside the stadium, concluded that it would be a mission impossible for the Indomitable Lions to score even one goal.

Experienced Ambroise Oyongo scored the decisive penalty to win it after Ibrahim Blati Toure missed his spot-kick for Kamou Malo’s side.

The two sides came into the match after losing their semi-final matches and they showed zeal to fight for the bronze medal.

The Indomitable Lions dominated the opening exchanges despite having a much-changed lineup with the tournament’s leading scorers, Aboubakar and Ekambi, starting on the bench.

The Stallions weathered the early Camerounian dominance to break the deadlock through Steve Yago in 24 minutes.

The enterprising midfielder stormed into the Indomitable Lions box to volley past Onana from Issa Kabore’s delivery. Burkina Faso doubled their lead on the stroke of halftime when Andre Onana bundled into his own goal Issa Kabore’s cross to stun the Olembe Stadium.
 
Sensing grave danger, Cameroun coach, Antonio Da Concecao, made introduced captain and talisman, Vincent Aboubakar as they chased the match.

The Indomitable Lions had to wait until 19 minutes from regulation to pull one back and start their incredible comeback. Angers striker Stephane Bahoken volleyed in from close range to reduce the deficit after 71 minutes.
 
Three minutes later Ekambi forced a save from Soufiane Ouedraogo when he cut in from the left to fire towards goal. Vincent Aboubakar made it 3-2 when he slotted from the back post five minutes from time, following a mistake by Soufiane Ouedraogo to register his seventh goal of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Aboubakar latched on to Ouedraogo’s dropped ball to score his eighth goal and forced the match to penalties, though, some people felt Aboubakar committed a foul by pushing a Burkinabe defender to collide with his goalkeeper.
 
Straight to a penalty shootout and Cameroon made no mistakes, as they converted all five kicks while Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Blati Toure missed his spot-kick.