Cameroon won their opening match at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2-1, and they won it the opposite way round to how matches are usually won.
Ngah Manga scored both goals. The first in the 14th minute, from a Monique Ngock assist. The second in the 73rd, from the penalty spot.
In between, Aïssata Traoré equalised for Mali in the 30th minute, also from the spot. Two of the match’s three goals came from penalties.
The Indomitable Lionesses had the ball — 67% possession — and shot fifteen times. Only four were on target.
Mali shot eight times. One was the penalty they scored; none of the other seven ended up inside Michaely Bihina’s goal.
And Mali still finished the match with more expected goals than Cameroon: 1.47 to 1.31.
The explanation lies in the first half. Cameroon went ahead in the 14th minute having generated 0.16 expected goals, against Mali’s 0.98. They took the lead during their worst spell of the match.
After the interval it reversed: 1.15 for Cameroon and 0.49 for Mali, who did not manage another shot on target.
Mali defended with their bodies. They made 44 clearances to Cameroon’s 15 and won more duels than their opponents, 58 to 49, with a third of the possession.
Cameroon committed seventeen fouls to eight and collected four yellow cards to one.
The last substitution produced a detail beyond the scoreline. In the 90+2nd minute Ngah Manga went off injured and Gabrielle Aboudi Onguéné came on: the eighth Africa Cup of Nations of her career, the record the preview had flagged.
Cameroon and Ghana lead Group D on three points, and they meet on 2 August.
Mali are left on nothing, and on the same day they face the Cape Verde side that knocked them out.