It was the most classic of comebacks, in the most dramatic of fashions. Cameroon, needing victory to emerge from their Africa Cup of Nations Group C, trailed Gambia 2-1 with only four minutes left on the clock. But a team which had scored only twice before that day, a team which had yet to win at the tournament and a team which had looked ragged and short of ideas in their two openers, somehow found a way.
For the fans and perhaps even some players, the wild scenes which met Christopher Wooh’s injury-time headed winner can mean the manner of the victory – that is, the purposeful, tactical manner in which Cameroon were the better attacking team and approached the match to win – can be overlooked.
But for boss Rigobert Song and his coaching staff, the lessons of what worked and why have to be retained and taken on board, and honed to near perfection for the knockouts, where they will first face Nigeria in the Round of 16. Because this wasn’t just an off-the-cuff comeback. There were plenty of problems remaining, particularly defens ively for Cameroon, but there were also aspects of the Indomitable Lions’ game which made for very positive watching, characteristics which can be repeated and relied upon as they aim to go deeper in the competition.
In particular, their approach play with the wide forwards paid dividends all game long against Gambia. Song needed a drastic improvement in that regard after successive fixtures attaining less than a 1.0 xG tally: 0.70 against Guinea, a measly 0.37 in the defeat to Senegal. And that’s exactly what he did find, trying two different ways, and eventually offering enough threat that Cameroon bludgeoned their way through to the knock-outs – and, perhaps just as importantly, finding an idea of how to go about attacking Nigeria, who will present an altogether more distinct challenge.
Alterations to the team came most notably in goal – André Onana dropped for Fabrice Ondoa – and in a formation switch, moving to a 3-4-3 with Karl Toko Ekambi and Georges-Kevin N’koudou deployed as the wide forwards.
Their first half movement was Cameroon’s best route into dangerous areas, with some neat combination play between the front trio – Frank Magri the central pillar – almost creating a number of openings to test Gambia’s goalkeeper. It was a narrow three in truth, Toko Ekambi and N’koudou very much in the channels rather than wide. Without the wing-backs relentlessly pushed forward, though, it meant most of the build-up play came centrally through midfield and then into their feet.
Song clearly had the right idea, but not quite the execution from his players in making it happen – so second half, he pushed for more width, eventually reverted to a back four and got a big uptick in productivity. A total of 22 touches in the Gambia penalty box, over two-thirds of those in the second half, showcase how the build-up play was more successful, more direct and yielded far more output in terms of shots.
Both Toko Ekambi and N’koudou struck the woodwork with extremely presentable chances – the latter’s effort one of three Big Chances created by Cameroon during the second 45 minutes – while the former had a total of ten touches in the opposition box, four shots and an individual xG of 0.87, all game highs. Indeed, his personal xG tally there exceeded Cameroon’s entire goal threat from each of their previous two aforementioned fixtures, highlighting the regularity with which he found space in the area and his relentless desire to fire his team through to the knockouts.
While his close-range header which found the back of the net was clearly Toko Ekambi’s biggest individual contribution, from a team perspective it’s the function and consistency of chance creation which is most important: that’s what Song can look to repeat in future games, to create future match-winning chances. On the other side of the attack, N’koudou delivered two assists for a total xG+xA tally of 0.87, adding end product to five attempted dribbles, three free-kicks won and four passes into the final third from deep.
Song has chopped and changed his forward line through the group stage, sometimes by necessity. But this pair perhaps brought the best balance of impact and outlet, and there’s reason to think there’s more ahead: Vincent Aboubakar, captain and top scorer of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, is back from injury and ready to face Nigeria.
If he lines up through the centre, flanked by N’koudou and Toko Ekambi, it gives Song an attacking platform to trouble a Super Eagles side which has kept back-to-back clean sheets. With their own problems to still sort out defensively, attack will be the best form of defence for Cameroon as they aim to emulate a run to the semi-finals two years ago.
(Images from IMAGO)
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