Cameroon sealed their place in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations after a nervy 2-2 draw with Tunisia in their final Group D match in Lubango on Thursday. They will now face Nigeria in a titanic Last 8 match.
The Indomitable Lions have looked shaky all tournament and didn't improve against the Carthage Eagles. In the end they scraped into the knockout stages on goals scored, as did Zambia.
Cameroon were behind inside the first minute when Amine Chermiti headed home, but Samuel Eto'o brought them level just after half-time. The Tunisians went back ahead midway through the second half as Aurelien Chedjou headed into his own net, but within a minute Cameroon were level again after a screamer from Landry Nguemo.
Tunisia's first goal came as Khaled Souissi provided a pin-point cross for Chermiti to connect with a diving header that had the beating of Cameroon keeper Carlos Kameni.
Tunisia were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi handled outside his area under pressure from Mohamadou Idrissou, but instead he just received a yellow, much to his relief.
A piece of instinctive finishing from Eto'o brought his side level, however. A clever flick from Idrissou sent Achille Webo clear down the right and his cut-back was turned past Mathlouthi by Eto'o for 1-1.
Tunisia went back in the lead through the most unfortunate of circumstances. Chedjou, who had been brought into the starting line-up to replace the veteran Rigobert Song, looped a header over Kameni as he tried to clear.
At that stage Tunisia were through, but they found themselves pegged back once more just a minute later as Nguemo hit a fierce low drive into the bottom corner.
The Carthage Eagles were reduced to 10 men late on when defender Ammar Jemel received his second yellow card for a push, and with that, perhaps, went Tunisia's last chance.
Cameroon have yet to find their form in this tournament but will hope that improved performances in the knockout stages will see them lift their first African crown since 2002.
