Hosts Cameroon made heavy work of beating 10-man Comoros Islands 2-1 on Monday to advance to the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals at the expense of a team which had everything stacked against it in the last 16.
Karl Toko Ekambi and Vincent Aboubakar scored the home team’s goals to eliminate the debutant, which was forced to use a full back in goal and had its captain sent off after six minutes. But Comoros still put up a gallant fight and, despite the considerable disadvantage, pulled a goal back from Youssouf M’Changama with nine minutes remaining to depart the tournament with its reputation considerably enhanced.
Cameroon meets upstart Gambia in the last eight on Saturday after the latter upset Guinea 1-0.
The results (last-16): Gambia 1 (Barrow 71) bt Guinea 0; Cameroon 2 (Ekambi 29, Aboubakar 70) bt Comoros 1 (M’Changama 81).