Int’l friendly: Lions conquer China, end campaign with win.

The head coach of the Cameroon national team, David Pagou named a completely new team to the side that lost to Australia five days ago in their first outing. 

The gaffer handed senior international debuts to four players; Simon Ngapandouentbu, Stephane Keller, Kevin Keben and Konrad Nfanseu. 

Pagou’s changes paid immediate dividends as the Indomitable settled the contest within 10 minutes with two early goals. Led by captain Jackson Tchatchoua, the five-time African champions raced into an early lead when Karl Etta Eyong broke the deadlock barely two minutes into the game. 

The Levante forward tapped in an inch-perfect cross from Mahamadou Nagida. 

It is the second goal for the forward for the national team. He opened his goal during the 2025 African Cup of Nations, AFCON, when he scored the solitary goal in a narrow win over Gabon. He also ended his 17-match goal drought across all competitions. 

Saido Alioum Moubarak sealed the win six minutes later with a fine strike from close range after Panthere Sportive of the Nde’s midfielder diverted Nagida’s threatening cross with a header to Alioum’s path, who was left unmarked in the area. 

The Cameroon national team had several other opportunities to add gloss to the scoreline but were wasteful. The best of them came when Etta Eyong skied his effort after Alioum ‘s low cross. 

The team held on to defend their lead in the second half despite suffering major setbacks. Their team’s gaffer David Pagou was sent off for protesting against the referee’s decision whom he claimed failed to penalize an opponent’s foul on his player. 

The team was also reduced to 10-men after Stephane Keller was sent off after a second yellow card during stoppage time. But the team remained resolute to secure the win. 

Thanks to the win, the Cameroon national team finished second on the table level on points with third place China but with better goal difference. Australia finished top of the table with a perfect record of two wins after they thrashed Curacao, who finished bottom of the table, 5-1 in the group’s other fixture. 

The win also marks a return to winning ways for the team. It is the second win of the year and first since a 2-1 win against South Africa in the round of 16 of the 2025 AFCON. 

It should be recalled that the 2026 edition of the FIFA Series tournament kicked-off on Wednesday March 25 and ended yesterday. 

Fifty national teams took part in the competition, representing almost a quarter of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations. They were drawn in 13 groups of three or four teams each.

The FIFA Series is a biennial invitational football tournament promoted by the world football governing body, FIFA, that features international friendlies between national teams from different confederations, taking place in March of every even-numbered year. The first edition was held in March 2024.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3748 of Wednesday April 01, 2026