Defending champion India has won the 2012 Nehru Cup with a win against Cameroon in an entertaing match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

Wim Koevermans’ boys were up to the mark right from kick-off and India started off well against the favourites from Africa.

Sunil Chhetri had India’s first attempt on target but his long range shot was easily saved by Cameroonian keeper Ngome Ngowe Lawrence in the 11th minute. The Sporting Clube de Portugal star had another chance, when he met a cross with a header just to see it going wide.

Cameroon had their first chance in the 17 minute. Vigny Merimee Kolony fired a shot from a long range position and the defending champions were lucky that the shot missed the target by a whisker.

India continued their encouraging performance and the boys were rewarded in the 19th minute! Clifford Miranda delivered a freekick into the Cameroonian box and the Africans messed it up with a poor attempt to execute an offside trap. Gouramangi Moiranghtem Singh took advantage of the situation and headed home past the keeper.

But India’s lead lasted only for ten minutes when Thierry Makon Nioga beat Subrata Pal with a powerful volley from outside the Indian box.

The interesting match went into the breather with both teams having one goal each on their account. India coach Wim Koevermans was a happy man at half-time although India had a few difficulties after the equaliser.

Gouramangi had the opportunity to put India back in the lead with another header in the 53rd minute, but the star defender was brought down by his Cameroonian counterpart.

The Africans hit the Indian net off a dead ball situation just a minute later. A Cameroonian player curled in a corner and an unmarked Kingue Mpondo headed past Subrata to put his team in front.

India were lucky not to concede another goal, when Thierry Makon Nioga put a powerful shot off target and missed a golden chance to increase the lead for Cameroon moments after Mpondo’s goal.

But India found their way back into the match when Cameroon keeper Hosea Nkessi brought down Sunil Chhetri in the box to gift India a penalty shot. Chhetri kept his cool and slotted home from the resulting penalty to make it 2-2.

India pushed hard after Sunil’s equaliser but both the the scoreline remained 2-2 after the regulation time and the match went into extra-time.

The extra-time didn’t produce too many chances, while Cameroon looked the better side in the additional 30 minutes. Robin Singh missed a must-score chance in the 105th minute when the unmarked youngster failed to head in the virtual winner for the Indian team!

Both teams had to settle for a penalty shoot-out infront of the fanatic crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

India had the luck on their side and won the 2012 Nehru Cup after an thrilling penalty shoot-out.

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2012 NEHRU CUP | FINAL
at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi

INDIA 2-2 CAMEROON [aet]
INDIA 5-4 CAMEROON [on penalties]

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GOALS
1-0 Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (19′)
1-1 Thierry Makon Nioga (29′)
1-2 Kingue Mpondo (54′)
2-2 Sunil Chhetri (78′, pen)

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT
1-0 Robin Singh | scores
1-1 Tambe Ashu | scores
2-1 Sunil Chhetri | scores
2-2 Ouamaïla Baba | scores
3-2 Denzil Franco | scores
3-3 P. Roland Bebey Kingue | scores
4-3 Mehtab Hussain | scores
4-4 Kingue Mpondo | scores
5-4 Clifford Miranda | scores
5-4 Thierry Makon Nioga | saved

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LINE-UPS

India
1-Subrata Pal; 4-Nirmal Chetri (90’+4′ 2-Denzil Franco), 3-Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 8-Sanju Pradhan (63′ 24-Robin Singh), 20-Mehtab Hussain, 6-Lenny Rodrigues, 15-Clifford Miranda; 26-Francis Fernandes; 11-Sunil Chhetri [C]

Unused Subs
16-Karanjit Singh, 25-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury; 5-Gurwinder Singh, 12-Alwyn George, 14-Anthony Pereira, 23-Manandeep Singh, 28-Jewel Raja Sheikh

Cameroon
16-Ngome Ngowe Lawrence (27′ 22-Hosea Nkessi); 2-Joseph Julien Momasso, 4-Moundi Djengue Gustave, 7-Tambe Ashu, 8-Alix Ebanga Bertin (80′ 11-Ouamaïla Baba), 12-P. Roland Bebey Kingue [C], 13-Thierry Makon Nioga, 14-Abouna Ndzana, 15-Stephane Meyoupo, 17-Kingue Mpondo, 19-Vigny Merimee Kolony (59′ 9-Charles Eloundou)

Unused Subs
3-Achilles Ebongué Pydi, 5-R. Ntolla, 6-Nembot Talla, 10-Samuel Bitte, 18-Souleymanou Mandjombe, 20-W. Mbogning, 22-Hosea Nkessi

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee
Vladislav Tseylin (Uzbekistan)

Assistant Referees
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4th Official
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BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
43′ Nirmal Chetri (India)
44′ P. Roland Bebey Kingue (Cameroon)
50′ Lenny Rodrigues (India)
77′ Hosea Nkessi (Cameroon)
116′ Mehtab Hussain (India)

Yellow-Red Cards
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Red Cards
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More details and exclusive updates on the the NEHRU CUP will be available at www.facebook.com/cpd81