By Boris Esono Nwenfor
YAOUNDE, Cameroon – The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon put on a dominant display, defeating Kenya’s Harambee Stars 4-1 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé on October 11, and in that light assumed control of Group J.
Captain Vincent Aboubaker opened the scoring as he converted the spot kick in the eighth minute. Martin Hongla doubled their lead in the 39th minute and it seemed as though it would be one-way traffic.
Kenya managed to pull a goal back through Michael Olunga in the 41st minute, reducing the lead and causing Cameroon a bit of tension as the first half drew to a close.
Bryan Mbuemo restored Cameroon’s two-goal cushion in the dying minutes of the half to take a 3-1 lead, leaving the Harambee Stars with loads of work to do. Cameroon continued to punish the visitors as Christian Bassogog put them three goals ahead in the 55th minute, scoring the final goal of the encounter.
Changes were made by Kenya coach Engin Firat, but they were unfortunately unable to recover, and the match ended 4-1, with the home team grabbing all three points after an entertaining evening of football in Douala.
“The group has proven that it works well. The things we have been careful about during training, I have seen a lot. There is a lot of movement, a lot of circulation, a lot of infiltration. And now we have combined it with the goal. That is a big difference. From the beginning, we took the match in our hands,” Cameroon coach Marc Brys said in his post-match reactions.
“I am here to perform. This is what we try to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes a little bit less. But I think we did not lose yet. We won three times. We have to continue. We have to keep our focus. If we can inject new talent, it will be a lot of pleasure. But the talent has to be ready. This is what we have to control.”
“He played a very good match. I see the joy he has in the game. It’s something I’ve never seen,” Indomitable Lions coach Marc Brys said in a response to a question about captain Aboubakar.
“With his age, he has joy. He plays like a youngster. At some point, you have to protect him, because there is another match coming up. But I don’t think I will continue to play one game with one or the other. I am always straightforward. The best striker at the moment is him. The captain deserves to play.
“Coming to the match today, I can easily say that the first half was the worst in my time with Kenya. I don’t know why especially after this very interesting penalty. Our team lost a lot of self-confidence. I’ve never seen in my life a hand penalty where the referee doesn’t give a yellow card,” Kenya coach Engin Firat said.
Engin Firat added: “The result is very clear. We have to change what we have done wrong, especially in the first half. We were not aggressive. I don’t know, maybe even the fans affect our team because we are not used to playing in front of this crowd with these fantastic fans. So, in the next match, we will see. Three days is a different world. We will see.”
The result sees Cameroon remain top of the Group J standings with seven points after three games, two points ahead of second-placed Zimbabwe. Cameroon and Kenya will go head-to-head again on Monday, October 14 for matchday 4 of the AFCON 2025 Qualifiers. The game will be played in Uganda behind closed doors.
