Australia play out 1-1 draw against Cameroon in the Confederations Cup

Australia’s chances of reaching the semi-final stage of the Confederations Cup received a blow after they settled for a 1-1 draw against Cameroon.

The Socceroos were condemned to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Germany in their first game as they struggled to cope with an inexperienced German squad which held on their own for most part of the clash. The draw to Cameroon sees Australia amass their first points of the tournament, and they will now have to beat Chile by two clear goals in three days’ time which looks like a hefty task for the Asia champions.

Cameroon had dominated proceedings during Thursday night’s encounter with Andre-Frank ZamboAnguissa giving the African nation a well deserved after the break. Socceroos skipper Mark Milligan levelled things up with a penalty in the 59th minute, but it was thereon Cameroon who looked good money to score the winner. The Socceroos eventually held Cameroon to a 1-1 scoreline which may have ended both their chances of making it to the top four. Cameroon take on Germany in their next outing, and they are unlikely to relish the prospect of a young but still exciting squad coming after them.

Following the game, Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglou suggested that the game was pretty much even although Cameroon looked to hold the advantage during the clash, he said: “I think we controlled large parts of it. They were very dangerous on transition and a couple of times got in behind us.

There’s certainly progression there, and they didn’t give up. There’s a real spirit in the team. We lacked a little bit of composure in the final third to get some meaningful chances. But we still had chances, particularly in the early part of the second half.”

Chile are the next opponents for the Australian national side, and they will have to produce their best performance in a while after having been beaten convincingly by the likes of Brazil and Germany in recent weeks.