Thanks to tournament top scorer Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko-Ekambi, Cameroon will face the Gambia in the AFCON quarterfinals. Well, it is not entirely thanks to those two because – after what Comoros showed at Stade d’Olembé in Yaoundé – most viewers would say that Comoros would have had an equal chance if Younes Zerdouk had a complete squad at his disposal.AFCON 2021: Up the Gambia! The Scorpions sting Guinea to clutch the quarterfinalsFollowing their shock triumph over Ghana to progress from the groups, twelve players of the squad were ruled out with Covid-19, meaning the already clear underdogs would have to play without a registered goalkeeper. In came left-back Chaker Alhadhur who put on the gloves and took his place between the posts.The game was slowly on its way, the Cameroonians were sizing up the petite figure at Comoros’ goal and just when it seemed all of Comoros’ bad luck had been used up, things went from bad to worse. Seven minutes in, VAR review of a cynical Nadjim Abdou foul led to the captain being sent off with a direct red card.AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS🇨🇲 Cameroon vs 🇰🇲 Comoros[5′] V.A.R. OUTPUTPossible Red CardThe result of the V.A.R. added some more agony, to the Comoros team. Nadjim Abdou was sent off, after pulling Cameroon’s Nicolas Ngamaleu’s shirt.Image Credits: Be In Sports (United States) pic.twitter.com/WSUemOIMBC— 🎉🎆🥂 VWH Portsmouth – Party Network 🥂🎆🎉 (@VWHPortsmouth) January 24, 2022 With their opponents even more weakened, the tournament hosts kicked on. It was expected for the Indomitable Lions to easily find their way towards Comoros’ goal but it wasn’t so. They were made to work for it but eventually managed to break the deadlock. The lead arrived with half an hour played – after winning the ball high up, Aboubakar unselfishly found Toko-Ekambi who tapped it past Comoros’ defender-turned-goalkeeper.Goal. Cameroon.Toko-Ekambi begins the nightmare.You can only score against who you are up against.Comoros 🇰🇲 0-1 🇨🇲 Cameroon#AFCON2021pic.twitter.com/cKJ0UcRVsh— African Insider #AFCON2021 🏆 (@African_Insider) January 24, 2022 But even with a goal conceded, Comoros did not lose spirit. Had André Onana not made a fantastic double save minutes before the break, the sides would have been level at halftime.Cameroonians lacked ruthlessness and overall found it difficult to bring the ‘guests’ down. The island nation had made a habit of keeping matches tight and despite their 132nd-place in FIFA’s world rankings – Cameroon failed to impose the expected dominance.The man of the match is undoubtedly Alhadhur who made four saves on the evening. Two of those denied Aboubakar and Nicolas Ngamaleu, but as the match progressed, Cameroon’s quality was too much for the underdogs to handle.Eventually, Aboubakar grabbed his seventh goal of the tournament from close range in a situation where a standard goalkeeper would have reacted with more anticipation and experience.Goal. Cameroon.Vincent Aboubakar surely seals his golden boot. Yipee.Comoros 🇰🇲 0-2 🇨🇲 Cameroon#AFCON2021pic.twitter.com/QoJht3EWbC— African Insider #AFCON2021 🏆 (@African_Insider) January 24, 2022 It all seemed done and dusted at 2-0 but die-hard Comoros players still found a way to threaten the home team. The Coelacanths were rewarded for their efforts with a fantastic goal – substitute Youssouf M’Changama fired in a astonishing free-kick from 35-metres out that had Onana sprawling. Cameroon keeper was confident before the shot and even called for none of the players to form a free-kick wall. Oh, how wrong he was.Youssouf M’changama’s goal for Comoros against Cameroon pic.twitter.com/ZDxbLf3xvj— Ralf RangNick (@SniffRades) January 24, 2022 Sadly for Comoros, in the end, it wasn’t enough to prevent the tournament hosts from taking their place in the quarter-finals.Information coming from outside the Olembe Stadium made the evening even more sad and not only for Comoros. Shocking news report that several people died and others were injured in a stampede at the entrance to the stadium. The seriously injured were transported to the Messassi hospital center and the first unofficial report reports at least seven people dead.🔴[DRAME] #CAN2021 : plusieurs personnes sont décédées et d’autres blessées lors d’une bousculade survenue à l’entrée du stade d’Olembe. Les blessés graves ont été transportés au centre hospitalier Messassi. Un premier bilan non officiel fait état d’au moins 7 morts. #CAMCOM pic.twitter.com/WMYlINrRxY— LSI AFRICA (@lsiafrica) January 24, 2022 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS – 1/8 FINALSEight-finalsGuinea – Gambia 0-1 (0-0)/Barrow 71/Cameroon – Comoros 2-1 (1-0)/Toko-Ekambi 29, Aboubakar 70 – M’Changama 81/
