Cameroon Qualify To The Knock-Out Stage & Chile Miss Out Despite Win
Cameroon scored a 95th minute winner against New Zealand to secure their place in the World Cup knockout stages, while Chile missed a 88th minute penalty in their match against Thailand to narrowly miss out.
Elsewhere, the Netherlands secured a decent 2-1 win over Canada, while the USA rounded off a perfect group stage campaign with a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over Sweden.
Cameroon and New Zealand both lost their opening two matches of the tournament, but both sides harboured hopes of reaching the last 16 ahead as one of the four best third-place finishers.
The first-half was particularly uneventful, with neither side able to have make much of an impact, but the game exploded into life after 57 minutes. Ajara Nchout performed a wonderful piece of skill to create some space in the box before coolly slotting the ball home beyond the on-rushing Erin Naylor.
Cameroon continued to dominate thereafter, but the game took an unexpected twist with ten minutes left on the clock when New Zealand found an equaliser, courtesy of an own-goal from Aurelle Awona.
New Zealand then had two golden chances to score a second, but were first denied by a stunning save from Annette Ngo, before Olivia Chance pulled an effort wide of the post.
Nchout made New Zealand pay for their shortcomings in front of goal, as she scored a stunning goal in the fifth minute of added time to ensure that Cameroon qualified for the last 16 for the second consecutive tournament.
The Valerenga forward put Ria Percival on the floor with an impressive piece of skill and then curled the ball into the far corner, sparking jubilant celebrations.
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