Andre Onana benched as Cameroon scrape into Africa Cup of Nations knockouts
Andre Onana watched on from the bench on Tuesday night as Cameroon mounted a late comeback against Gambia to snatch a place in the Africa Cup of Nations knockout rounds after being just minutes away from a potential group stage elimination.
The Manchester United goalkeeper's arrival in host country Ivory Coast last week was delayed so that he could continue playing for his club. But bad weather on his eventual travels ensured he was too late to play in Cameroon's opening Group C fixture against Guinea, which finished 1-1.
Onana got his chance for the follow up clash with Senegal but couldn't manage any saves in the 3-1 defeat. Coach Rigobert Song, with whom Onana had a falling out at the 2022 World Cup – resulting in being sent home early and putting his international career on hold for nine months, then opted to drop the £47m star in favour of restoring Fabrice Ondoa to the starting lineup.
Ondoa, who also happens to be Onana’s cousin, is a back-up for third tier French side Nimes. The 28-year-old conceded twice against Gambia, ranked 126th in the world by FIFA, but the Indomitable Lions managed to score three at the other end to jump into second place in the final standings.
At 1-1 into the final few minutes of the game, Cameroon were destined to finish third in the group behind Senegal and Guinea and, crucially, also out of the top ranked third place teams who will make the round of 16. At that stage, only wishful 3-0 defeats for either Algeria or Zambia in their respective final fixtures would have bumped Cameroon into the required top six of those rankings.
To make matters worse, Gambia then scored again to lead 2-1, a result which would have eliminated Cameroon there and then. An own goal from defender James Gomez
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