Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1 as Africans put in a good shift

Neymar scored twice in the first 45 minutes of their encounter with Cameroon. The African team that turned up for this encounter surprised all by their spirit for go forward without giving any respect to the 5-time Fifa World Cup champions. So were they, that they were denied by the post before scoring what many could term a miracle goal, but it was such quality.

Both teams wasted early chances and stretched each other’s defences to the limit. The Cameroon backline limit was reached when Brazil kept a cool tempo and breached it with a lot of easy. After starting at a high pace with less control of the proceedings, Cameroon lost the ball very easily on their right in midfield. Moukandjo was dispossessed and the ball fell to Luis Gustavo who found Neymar with a pass inside the penalty area. The Brazilian talisman scored with a passing shot.

Besides the poor midfield play, Cameroon central defence played too far apart. They let Neymar have all the space he needed. The covering was inadequate and they paid the price. Going forward, Cameroon kept paving the way and utilising the available spaces in the middle of the field. They tried to attack through the wings and crossed the balls that troubled the Brazilian central defence. They won a few corner kicks in succession. The first was headed against the corner of the right upright and the cross bar after a slight deflection. The resultant kick from the right was cleared to the left where it was played back to Moukandjo who roasted Dani Alves twice and squared the ball to Matip to tap in.

The suspect Brazilian defence could not clear the ball away, just as they were guilty of conceding too many easy corner kicks. Dani Alves was set on his bums by the Cameroonian winger and the entire backline remained static as the ball travelled to Matip. However, Cameroon lost concentration in midfield again, and gave away another cheap goal. Neymar received a ball from Marcelo and scored from the edge of the box with a directed shot.

The beginning of the second half started just as interesting and entertaining. After conceding a corner kick, Cameroon failed to clear their lines. The ball went wide but not long enough. It was played to the wing to Marcelo who crossed and found a reasonably offside Fred to head home from close range to increase the score line to 3-1.

Each of the Cameroonians who took to the pitch were value for money as they put in a good shift. Their overzealous tendency to bid farewell the 2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup undid the otherwise respectable job done on the night. It was their over-confidence that handed the Brazilians the fourth goal. A poorly taken free-kick outside the box by the Cameroon defence backfired as that haste turned out to be a goal for the hosts. The ball was intercepted by Oscar, and then played to Fred who returned it to Oscar. Oscar set up Ferdinandinho who toe-poke the ball into the net to close the show at 4-1.

After their crazy antics of the fixture against Croatia, the Africans made amends despite a large score-line. They gained much respect in the absence of Samuel Eto’o and Alex Song.