Cameroon thrash Nepal 5-0; stay in contention

New Delhi: It turned out to a walk in the park for Cameroon as they drubbed minnows Nepal 5-0 to stay in contention in the Nehru Cup football tournament, on Sunday.

Kologny Merime, Ebanga Bertin and Momaso Joseph scored for the winners, in the 13th, 41st, 61st, 66th and 77th minutes respectively, at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Cameroon got an early goal when Merime headed home after receiving a cross from the right from Kingue Mpondo. Stephen Mbia deserves a mention for his run down the wing, after which he delivered the ball to Mpondo, who then gave it to Merime. The Africaans doubled the lead as Bertin found the net just before the break. Bertin, who had scored in the 2-2 draw with Syria in his team`s last match, struck when his well-directed header off Ashu Tambe`s low cross found the target to make it 2-0. Merime found his second of the day when he converted Mpondo Kingue`s assist. The move started from the back as Ngome Lawrence pushed the ball to Paul Bebey who broke through the Nepal defence before giving a through ball to Merime, who made use of the chance without much difficulty. The absence of Nepal defenders near the post helped him to an extent. If their domination in the first half was not enough, Cameroon continued to torment the Nepalese even more after the change of ends, scoring three times to leave the Himalayan nation devastated. After Merime scored his second, Bertin added one more when he converted Jean-Patrick`s pass to make it 4-0 for Cameroon. Mosamo completed the domination when he tapped in from close range off a Eloundou Charles assist. Cameroon, in fact, could have added a few more to the tally. Merime, after a successful one-on-one contest with the Nepali goalkeeper, blasted the ball but it defender Ritesh Thapa came to the team`s rescue. Before that Merime`s attempt found the net but his goal was disallowed because of a handball offence committed by the player himself. PTI