Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Karl Toko Ekambi and Vincent Aboubakar are the fearsome striking attack of Cameroon. But Bayern, Rennes and Besiktas forwards had their share of injuries ahead of AFCON 2023 qualifying matches and coach Rigobert Song could only count on Aboubakar in the second game against Namibia. The first one finished 1-1 in Cameroon, as Namibia took the lead, while the home team managed to equalize, and Indomitable Lions played without all three main attackers. For the return leg, Aboubakar made it and played all game, even managed to score, but it was not enough, as Cameroon were defeated 2-1.🇳🇦 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗗 ✅With three goals in three qualifying games, Peter Shalulile has led his country Namibia to the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.#AFCON2023Q pic.twitter.com/Vs5AALK1Uv— iDiski Times (@iDiskiTimes) March 28, 2023 If a draw in Cameroon was a surprise, a Namibia win days later is more than that. Without injured Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Karl Toko Ekambi, Cameroon’s attack in two games is four shots on target in 180 minutes and one goal. Surely not enough, even for the weaker Namibia, who managed to score three goals in total, and are now ahead of Cameroon at the table in the Group C. Rigobert Song will surely be under fire now, not only due to a defeat, but surely do to the display of his men. The Cameroon’s whole 90 minutes could be explained by two chances and two defensive mistakes.Cameroon 1️⃣-1️⃣ NamibiaNamibia 2️⃣-1️⃣ CameroonVincent Aboubakar’s late goal not enough for Indomitable Lions as #Namibia beat five-time African champions #Cameroon 2-1 in #AFCON2023Q in South Africa. pic.twitter.com/u4WZfbigIY— Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) March 28, 2023 The only shot on goal, apart from Aboubakar’s injury time goal came from Bryan Mbeumo, who used a wonderful pass from Frank Anguissa but his show was too weak. And that was it. The Indomitable Lions managed nothing more, as they were not good in attack, while the midfielder dynamo Pierre Kunde and Frank Anguissa couldn’t provide any chances to its attackers. But on the other side, weak Namibia used all the chances they got. Peter Shaluile was on the right spot and unguarded just enough to pick up the ball which Epassy saved but failed to keep and to score in the 55th minute. Cameroon continued its possession domination but again, there were no chances. And in the 79th minute, Namibia was awarded a free kick. Absalom Limbondi took a shot, but the Cameroonian wall was not good and the ball bounced of Aboubakar into the goal for 2-0. The away team captain made up for it in injury time, but it was not good enough.AFCONQ: Why Arsenal’s Thomas Partey missed Ghana’s draw against AngolaThis was the first victory in 2023 AFCON qualifiers for the Brave Warriors, and they also snapped their four consecutive home game defeats with this win. On the other side, The Indomitable Lions continued their bad streak of away defeats with the fourth one. Rigobert Song’s men last time won away from home against Burundi in the first match of the qualifications, in June 2022.AFCON 20223 QUALIFIERSTuesdayBotswana – Equatorial Guinea 2-3 (1-2)/Elias 38, Seakanyeng 65 – Nsue 13, Ditsele 40 og, Balboa 51/Eswatini – Cape Verde 0-1 (0-0)/Mendes 65/Malawi – Egypt 0-4 (0-3)/Hamed 4, Marmoush 16, Salah 20, Zizo 49/Namibia – Cameroon 2-1 (0-0)/Shalulile 55, Limbondi 79 – Aboubakar 90+1/19:00 Gambia – Mali19:00 Liberia – South Africa19:00 Mozambique – Senegal20:00 Tanzania – Uganda22:00 Comoros – Ivory Coast22:00 Togo – Burkina Faso23:00 Libya – TunisiaWednesday00:55 Mauritania – DR Congo***odds are subject to change
