Nehru up: Great Indian trick

Subrata Pauls goal kick went straight up and down the pitch,towards the target substitute Robin Singh. The 62 central forward,facing his own goal,controlled the long ball,and waited. The great ram rod of Cameroons forward momentum had penned the Indians back in their own box for almost the entire half,and with the ball at his feet,Robin Singh waited some more. Company finally arrived in the form of Francis Fernandes on the right. The rehearsed move was now playing itself out. The ball was released into space on the flank and Fernandes took a touch to control it and then sent it soaring into Cameroons penalty area. On cue,Sunil Chhetri ghosted in behind the defence and met the ball with a thumping header.

Were the match tailor-made for a movie audience,the header wouldve flown in and India would have hung on for their hat-trick of titles. This though,was a night when the hosts were not going to enjoy any such convenient narrative twist. The header cleared the bar,only just,but still; and India scrambled back,ready for the next wave of attack from the men in green and maroon.

This was the pattern Cameroon pouring forward,speeding up and down,testing Indias defence with crosses and shots from distance,through-balls and corners and India batting them away that held sway from the minute India took the surprise lead in the first half. If the goal was unexpected,the way it arrived was not. Cameroon had always looked suspect defending set-pieces and halfway through the first period,Gourmangi Singh,unmarked at the far post,nodded in Clifford Mirandas free-kick. And after that,it was all Cameroon.

Makon Thierry cracked in a half-volley from outside the area to level the scores on the 30th minute and early in the second half,Kingue Mpondo headed Cameroon ahead from a corner. Cameroon could have had several more; drives flew just wide,headers went close,defenders got in last-ditch blocks and the flag went up for off-side just as forwards bore down on goal.

If it was a deliberate tactic to let Cameroon have the ball so as to hit them on the counter,it was fraught in so many obvious ways that nothing less than a goal at the other end was going to justify it. Counter-attacks are built on pacy runs,quick passing from the back and clinical finishing. Indias was the stripped-down version of it. A clearance from defence in the 79th minute was prodded forward by Robin Singh and keeper Nkessi Hosea brought down Chhetri to concede a penalty. The skipper scored from the spot,and in the very next passage of play,was scampering back assisting his defence.

This would go on,beyond the second half of extra time,well after exhausted defenders lay about like swatted flies. Syed Rahim Nabi sat by the side lines clutching his cramping leg and watched as Cameroon exploited the freed up space. Nirmal Chhetri was so badly exhausted that he had to be substituted with another defender,despite the imperative to get penalty-takers on the pitch.

Wim-possible

It would go on until the tenth penalty kick. India somehow kept their end up through all this. Robin Singh,Chettri,Denzil Franco,Mehtab Hossain and Clifford Miranda all converted. Cameroon kept up the pressure,like they had done all match.

Until Makon Thierry,the scorer of Cameroons first in the match,hit the inside of the upright. The ball ricocheted back,hit Subrata Paul who had dived the wrong way,and then trickled out. The 20,000 strong crowd ran on to the pitch,in one corner of which,with truncheon wielding policemen staking out a tenuous boundary,Koevermans was being lifted off his feet by the players.