June 8 – Indomitable Lions Stun the Champions

WHILE for England fans the defining image of Italia 90 is without doubt Paul Gascoigne’s tears in the semi-final and Gary Lineker’s little ‘watch him’ signal to the bench, the tournament as a whole is regarded as one of the poorer World Cups with tight defensive displays the vogue in the country that has always favoured the 1-0 score line.

One bright spot in the competition was the performance of Cameroon and their veteran striker Roger Milla. It was on this day that the Africans showed they meant business in Italy when, in the first match of the tournament, they stunned reigning world champions Argentina by beating them 1-0.

The Cameroonians relished their status as massive underdogs and showed they were no pushovers by keeping the score at 0-0 into the second half. Their chances of keeping up the level of resistance took a blow when Andre Kana was sent off with half an hour left to play but just six minutes later they scored against the shell-shocked Argentinians. François Omam-Biyik scored when he placed a perfect downward header just to the left of Argentine goalkeeper Nery Pumpido who fumbled the ball into the net.

Argentina pressed for the equaliser but it would not come, even when Benjamin Massing was sent off for the Africans on 89 minutes, and the Indomitable Lions held on for a famous win.

Roger Milla said later: “San Siro was as full as a can of sardines. Fans had come from all over the world to see Diego Maradona and Argentina, who had won the tournament four years before, and none of the experts gave us a chance.

“What they forgot was that football matches are won and lost on the pitch – and that we were the Indomitable Lions.”

Milla continued with a delightful food-reference that Motty would be proud of: “The media did not take us seriously. Nor did Argentina. They showed no respect. They thought they would make a rabbit stew of us.

“I left with Maradona’s shirt and a feeling of pride in Cameroon that would only grow over the following games.”

That pride would grow and grow as the African team went on to beat Romania thanks to two goals from 38-year-old Milla which would see them win the group, depite losing 4-0 to the USSR.

They also beat Colombia, again with two goals from Milla, to take them to the quarter-finals – the first African team to achieve this feat. They were eventually knocked out by England but not before they had led the game 2-1 with just eight minutes remaining with the Three Lions needing two penalties from Gary Lineker to beat their Indomitable counterparts.

Meanwhile Argentina were lucky to get through the group stage at all and only scraped through as one of the best third-placed teams, having finished behind Cameroon and Romania in the group. They put that behind them to make it all the way to the final where they were beaten by West Germany.

But the tournament’s headlines belonged to Cameroon. Milla said: “Victory over Argentina was just the start. Our success during the 1990 World Cup made the country proud.

“After we were knocked out by England we did a lap of honour and everyone was on their feet acclaiming the Indomitable Lions.

“We had given great pleasure and brought respect to Africa.

“We had taken Cameroon’s flag and planted it on the highest summit of world football.”

Have a look at highlights from the match below and don’t forget to check in with us tomorrow for more frivolous football fun.

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