In their last World Cup appearance before Italia 90 at Espana 82, Cameroon was eliminated at the group stages after drawing all three of their group games.
But they were a different animal in Italy eight years later as they became the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
They kicked off the tournament with a 1-0 win over the then-defending champions Argentina in what was the first game of the competition.
In the same game, their rough and physical game saw two men Benjamin Massing and Andre Kana Biyik sent off for fouls on Claudio Cannigia but they held on with nine men to stun the champions.
“No one thought we could do anything here against Maradona, but we knew what we could do,” the goalscorer, François Omam-Biyik, said after the game. “We hate it when European reporters ask us if we eat monkeys and have a witch doctor. We are real football players and we proved this tonight.”
In the second game, two Roger Milla goals condemned Romania and that result took them top of Group B. Despite suffering a 4-0 loss to the Soviet Union (current Russia) in the final group game, they reached the last 16.
They faced Colombia in the first knockout phase and Milla scored twice again in the 2-1 win to take the Indomitable Lions to the quarterfinals – becoming the first nation from Africa to reach the stage.
England, 1966 winners were next in line for the Indomitable Lions and despite leading 2-1 with only thirty minutes to go, Gary Lineker scored two penalties – one in normal time to tie the game and then in extra to win the game for the Three Lions and end Cameroon’s run.
Nevertheless, history had been made and only two other nations have achieved the feat with Senegal on their debut in Korea/Japan in 2002 and Ghana in South Africa during the 2010 edition.
Come 2022, Cameroon and other African representatives Senegal, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia will hope to go a step further and reach the last four.
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