Sierra Leone sailed through on away goal advantage after a 1-1 draw on Saturday in Yaoundé.
The ill luck continues for the U-23 Lions. After having been eliminated from the African Games, the U-23 Lions were eliminated from the qualifiers for the maiden edition African championship in that category. In the away leg second round qualifier match played last week in Yaounde, Sierra Leone and Cameroon played a zero-all tie which made victory imperative for Cameroon in the return leg. Unfortunately, the U-23 Lions played and one-all draw which is synonymous to their elimination from the competition.
Whereas Cameroon got up to a good start opening scores at the 33rd minute through Joseph Marie Minala who was served on a platter of gold by Yanki Joseph. Cameroon continued mounting pressure on the Sierra Leoneans but failed to concretise the several opportunities they created up front. Upon resumption of play for the second, the Sierra Leoneans took ascendancy ion the match, pushing Cameroon to be on the defensive despite the combative efforts of midfielders like Kenne Raoul. It took the prowess of a majestic goalkeeper André Onana for Cameroon not to concede a goal as he multiplied vital saves even on one-on-one duels with Sierra Leonean attackers.
However the dreaded finally happened with the Sierra Leoneans obtaining a disputed penalty at the last minute of added time. Even then Onana pushed back the ball before it was hammered in again by the penalty shooter, Tarawallie Sallieu. The U-23 Lions lost the battle but were far from ridiculous as the dominated play demonstrating some good passing of the ball. There have also revelations like Kenne Raoul, Mfede Junior, Yanki Joseph and most of all, André Onana who plays for Ajax Amsterdam.
