Cameroon progress but sombre day shows Olembé tragedy’s cuts run deep

Outside, Cameroon’s supporters were left under no illusions about what was expected of them. Inside, those who fulfilled the conditions for smooth passage could raise the roof. This Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final, won with two goals from Karl Toko Ekambi, was always going to be loaded with added meaning but the host nation progressed on two fronts.

There was no repeat of Monday’s tragedy at the Stade Olembé in Yaoundé which has scarred this tournament irreversibly and nor was there any real sense one might occur; there was also a distinct impression Cameroon are equipped to go all the way, brushing aside a spirited representation from the Gambia who have formed some of the past fortnight’s fonder memories and would be welcomed to this level again.

“Condolences to families of the departed spectators,” read a message on the big screens at either end during a well-observed, if brief, period of silence before kick-off. The balance required of the competition’s organisers was one that honoured the eight who died in the crush at Olembé and acknowledged the systemic failings that brought it about, while keeping the show on the road.

Douala, the country’s throbbing economic capital, was alive for the first Cameroon game it has hosted at an Afcon. Soon after 8am vuvuzelas echoed in the area around Marché Ndogpassi, a sprawling complex four miles away from the ground; many among the city’s dense network of streets became almost impassable but the appetite to maintain order around the venue was unmistakable.

Along the road that skirts Japoma Stadium’s western side, soldiers bearing rifles stood on roofs or stared down from balconies. They were members of the Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide (BIR), a feared combat unit that