Africans win again in world youth championship
By Brian Homewood

LAGOS, April 8 (Reuters) - Cameroon defeated England and Mali sprung another
shock by beating Portugal as the two African teams qualified for the second
round of the world youth championship on Thursday.
Brazil and Uruguay both bounced back from opening match defeats to beat
Honduras and South Korea respectively while Zambia's draw with Spain meant
that African teams remained unbeaten in the competition.
During South Korea's game, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation placed an
apology on the screen for showing the wrong flag during the country's first
match.
England's 1-0 defeat was their second by the same scoreline and left them on
the brink of elimination.
The intricacies of the 24-team tournament mean that nobody has been knocked
out yet although England, Kazakhstan, Honduras and South Korea, who have
each lost both their games, have only mathematical chances of progressing.
Mexico are the only other side definitely through. The top two teams in each
of the six first round groups, plus four of the six third-placed teams, all
qualify.
First-half goals from Tenema N Diaye and Adama Coulibaly set Mali up for a
2-1 win over Portugal. Paulo Costa's 58th minute reply meant they had some
desperate defending to do late on.
The team from the poverty-stricken Sahara desert nation, which has never
played at a senior World Cup, beat Uruguay in their opening game and have
maximum six points from two matches in group D.
Uruguay, who beat South Korea 1-0 with Ernesto Chevanton's second goal of
the tournament, and Portugal have three points and the Asians none.
An own goal by Richard Cooper in the 64th minute gave Cameroon victory in
the group E match in Kano and left England as the only team not to have
scored in the tournament.
Cooper deflected in a close-range shot by Gaspard Komol, Cameroon's two-goal
hero in their opening win over Japan.
England created some late chances in a generally poor game but were kept at
bay by 15-year-old goalkeeper Idris Kameni, the youngest player in the
tournament.
In the group's other game, Japan beat the United States 3-1 in Bauchi to
leave both sides level on three points.
Two goals by Sao Paulo reserve midfielder Edu helped Brazil to a 3-0 win
over Honduras in a group F match in Port Harcourt.
Midfielder Matuzalem scored the other goal to put Brazil third in the group
on three points.
Honduras opened brightly, with striker David Suazo looking dangerous and
nearly scoring with a long-range effort, but Brazil scored twice in three
minutes shortly before halftime to fend off fears of an upset.
Zambia and Spain each have four points after their stalemate in Calabar
earlier in the day. Both coaches agreed it was simply too hot for football.
``I must attribute the 0-0 draw to the heat,'' said Spain coach Inaki Saez,
whose opinion was shared by his Zambia counterpart Patrick Phiri.