2026 FIFA world cup qualifiers: Eswatini pins cameroon to virgin draw

Cameroon has played out a virgin draw with Eswatini in the qualifiers to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The southern African country staged the goalless tie with the Indomitable Lions in South Africa yesterday.

This was during match day five of the current African qualification series to next year’s World Cup tournament set to take place in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. The team subjected the Cameroon outfit into settling for the disappointing score after forcing the Indomitable Lions into failing to concretize on several goalscoring opportunities that they gained in the course of the match which took place in Mbombela in the northeastern part of South Africa.

Loads of wasted goalscoring chances

The Indomitable Lions misused more than 10 clear scoring opportunities during yesterday’s fixture. The first action came in some 13 minutes into the encounter when a well-calculated short by the Cameroon team went crashing on the crossbar. The team had another golden opportunity around the 23^rd minute but midfielder Martin Hongla’s powerful attempt was quickly saved by Eswatini goalkeeper, Mlamuli Lenny Makhanya.

Cameroon skipper, Vincent Aboubakar had another opportunity at the 41^st minute but wide it over the host’s goal post. The Indomitable Lions had similar performances in the second half with the likes of winger, Bryan Mbeumo wasting a 63^rd minute opportunity just a few meters away from the host’s goal post. A few minutes after the misused opportunity by the Brentford winger, Vincent Aboubakar had another chance but equally wasted.

The 10 final minutes of the game without the then substituted Hatayspor attacker, Vincent Aboubakar on the field to coordinate activities, left Cameroon producing more and more chaos. The Indomitable Lions missed multiple opportunities during the final crucial minutes, including one sent wide by defender Christopher Wooh.

Twice unsuccessful

Yesterday’ draw marks the second successive time that the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon are failing to have the better of Eswatini in an international match.  The last time the two nations met in 1993 during the qualifiers to the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the two nations settled on a goalless tie despite the fact that Cameroon had humbled the nation 5nil just four months earlier during the first leg of their double meeting.

Costly draw for Cameroon

The tie with Eswatini yesterday means Cameroon still tentatively topping Group D of the qualification campaign with nine points after five games played in the 10-game qualification series. But the disappointing outcome which means Cameroon has now dropped six points since the start of the current qualification campaign, is expected to make things harder for the Indomitable Lions in the qualification journey.  

The virgin dilemma with Eswatini entails that Cameroon may drop to the second or third position in the Group D by the end of the fifth round of matches in the pool. The possible drop could have Cameroon’s back on the wall when it faces Libya at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium next Tuesday during match day six of the campaign.

The winners of the nine qualification groups in the ongoing qualifiers in Africa will qualify for next year’s World Cup tournament. The other four best runners up across the various pools will progress to an intercontinental qualifying series where the overall winner will qualify for the 2026 World Cup tournament.  Cameroon is eyeing a record nineth participation in the finals of the FIFA World Cup.