Football
Reuters 18y

Soccer-Nations-Penalty curse haunts Cameroon again

By Brian Homewood

CAIRO, Feb 5 - Twice within four months missed
penalties have catapulted Cameroon out of a major competition
and this time striker Samuel Eto'o has taken on the role of
villain.

Eto'o scored with his first penalty in Saturday's shootout
against Ivory Coast but missed his second, enabling Didier
Drogba to shoot his side into the African Nations Cup
semi-finals.

In October, the Barcelona striker was involved in a public
slanging match with Pierre Wome over the miss against Egypt
which cost Cameroon a place at their fifth successive World Cup.

Cameroon, needing a win to qualify, were held 1-1 at home
after Wome missed a penalty deep into injury-time.

Then, as now, it was Ivory Coast who benefited, qualifying
for the 2006 finals in Germany.

Wome was bundled out of the country after the match and
overlooked for the Nations Cup. He said he had taken the kick
because nobody else wanted to.

However, Eto'o gave a different version.

"Why didn't I take the penalty? I went to take it but Wome
came up to me and said he was really confident of scoring," he
said at the time.

"There is only one remedy for it all and that is to do well
in the African Nations Cup, to give everyone who is suffering
with us now a great lift."

How those words must be haunting Eto'o now.

Until Saturday, he had led by example in Egypt, scoring five
goals to take Cameroon through the group stage with a 100
percent record and often dropping back to midfield to inspire
his team.

Against Ivory Coast, however, he managed only one real
effort on goal as the sides drew 1-1 after extra time.

LOST CONCENTRATION

He strode forward confidently to take the first penalty of
the shootout and scored comfortably and, after each team
converted their first 11 kicks, he was forced to step up again.

Possibly having lost concentration during the 20-minute gap
between kicks, he skied his effort over the bar, allowing Drogba
to fire the Elephants into a semi-final against Nigeria.

The defeat leaves a question mark over the future of
Cameroon's Portuguese coach Artur Jorge.

Despite being at the helm when Cameroon failed to qualify
for Germany, Jorge had an unbeaten record going into the
tournament in his first foray into African football.

"I'm not thinking about the future, the future belongs to
God," he said after Saturday's elimination.

Cameroon have been a dominant force in African football
since the 1990 World Cup, when the Roger Milla-inspired side
beat Argentina on the way to the quarter-finals.

Since then, they have regularly qualified for the World Cup
and won two Nations Cup tournaments despite almost non-stop
behind-the-scenes bickering and chaotic administration.

Being forced to watch from an unfamiliar position on the
sidelines could finally provide a much-needed wake-up call for
the country's football administrators.

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