By Ekema Njoku M.
Flag bearers of the Southwest region at the ongoing Cup of Cameroon, Best Stars Academy Limbe, CINYODEV FA, and Eso Eteki Memorial Sports Academy (EEMSA) all met their waterloo, as they have been shown the way out of the competition.
The academicians of Buea, CINYODEV FA were first to crash out of the competition, after failing to defeat league two side, Panthere. The boys Coach Ben Ntui were defeated 2-1.
Speaking to Atlantic Chronicles, defensive midfielder for the Buea based side, CINYODEV FA, Elias Tonga, said “I want to thank God for giving me and team mates the opportunity to express our talents against a club of the higher level. At least this has given us the platform to show what we can do as a team. Talking about the match of today, it was an encounter we could grab with the left hand, unfortunately for us, the god of football was not on our side, worst of all is the fact that the match officials gave a blind eye to any punishable offence committed by our opponents. This is football and there are three outcomes in a game either we draw, lose or win, but in this case we lost. We go home sad but fulfilled.” He added.
This defeat makes it the second CINYODEV FA is incurring this season, after losing to ISOSHA in the Southwest Regional Championship.
The second Southwest representative to crash out of the Cup is EEMSA, ripped to pieces by Leopard FC of Douala 4-1. The league two side were stunned when the boys from Tiko opened score but before the end of the first half, both sides were on equal terms. In the second half, the experienced Douala side turned the tides finding the back of the net thrice.
This is the second official defeat EEMSA Tiko suffers in the 2019 season, after CINYNODEV FA defeated her 1-0 in the battle to secure a place in the round of 32 in the Cup of Cameroon. Fortunately, they were retained as the best runner-up.
The last fling of the dice was on Best Stars Academy exchanging football lessons with Renaissance of Ngoumou. The foot soldiers of Coach Saturin Djoufack stepped on the pedal opening scores through Luis Itare, regrettably, two minutes after, Renaissance equalised. At break, Coach Djoufack reminded his boys of the poor state of the pitch and urged them to be realistic and stop making short passes in their own half of the pitch. The second half saw a goal feast as Best Stars scored two more goals courtesy of Mathiew Mvondo and Agbor Clinton, but the Best Stars lads could not protect their lead. With this, the match continued to post match penalties.
The U17 indomitable Lion’s shot stopper, Ekoi Manfred who was starting his first match for the Limbe side in a year, failed to repeat his exploits in Tanzania. Renaissance converted four shots while Best Stars could covert only three.
It is worth noting that all the three Southwest representatives in the Cup of Cameroon have been booted out.
