Football / World Cup USA '94: Dahlin salvages draw for Sweden

Cameroon. . .2

Sweden. . . .2

CAMEROON seemed set to renew the World Cup romance of four years ago when Martin Dahlin brought them back to reality with an equaliser 14 minutes from time in this group B match after Henrik Larsson's shot had hit the crossbar.

Sweden's resilience in the heat, their refusal to be intimidated by Cameroon's natural gifts proved them to be redoubtable opponents, with no small measure of skill.

Another fascinating contrast in styles, that between the traditional strength of northern Europe and the emerging virtuosity of African football, took shape after only seven minutes when Roger Ljung put Sweden in front with a powerful header from Jonas Thern's angled free-kick.

This set a question mark against Cameroon's defence, especially their goalkeeper, Joseph Bell. He so completely misjudged the ball's flight that he was stranded helplessly beneath it, when Ljung arrived on the far post.

Starting slowly in a temperature of more than 90F, Cameroon were forced to concede the initiative as Sweden launched a series of powerful attacks with their principal striker Martin Dahlin prominent.

It was 20 minutes before Cameroon had the confidence to attack in strength, some neat close-quarter skills then leading to some untidy scrambling in the Swedish defence.

Some of the purpose went out of Sweden's midfield play, Arsenal's acquisition Stefan Schwarz not as influential as he looked in the opening stages, but the quality of the final pass let Cameroon down.

Then in the 30th minute Sweden made an uncharacteristic mistake, Patrik Andersson driving the ball against Marc Foe when attempting a clearance. Foe cut into the penalty area and laid on the simplest of chances for David Embe.

The Peruvian referee, Alberto Noriega, first disallowed the strike for offside before being persuaded to consult a linesman then reversing his decision. Showing more authority and a willingness to augment their strike force with rapid support from midfield, Cameroon came more into the match, clearly encouraged by their recovery.

Within a minute of the restart Cameroon went in front when Francois Omam-Biyick fastened on to a pass played over Andersson's head and prodded the ball home.

CAMEROON (4-2-4): Bell (St-Etienne); Song (Tonnerre Yaounde), Kalla (Canon Yaounde), Tataw (Olympic Mvolye), Agbo (Olympic Mvolye); Libih (Al Ohud); M'bouh (Al Nadi); Omam-Biyick (Lens), Mfede (Canon Yaounde), Foe (Canon Yaounde), Embe (Belenenses). Substitute: Mouyeme (Troyes) for Embe, 81; Maboang (Rio Ave) for Mfede, 87.

SWEDEN (4-4-2): Ravelli (IFK Gothenburg); Nilsson (Helsingborg), P Andersson (Borussia Monchengladbach), Bjorklund (IFK Gothenburg), Ljung (Galatasaray); Schwarz (Arsenal), Ingesson (PSV Eindhoven), Thern (Napoli), Blomqvist (IFK Gothenburg); Dahlin (Borussia Monchengladbach), Brolin (Parma). Substitute: Larsson (Feyenoord) for Blomqvist, 68; K Andersson (Lille) for Ingesson, 74.

Referee: Alberto Noriega (Peru).