New Delhi, Sep 3: India showed nerves of steel to overcome Cameroon 5-4 via penalty shootout and retain the Nehru Cup football tournament as coach Wim Koevermans' first assignment in the hot seat ended in glory, here on Sunday .
The match went into tie-breaker after the two teams were locked 2-2 at the end of 120 minutes of play at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
Gouramangi Singh (19th minute) and Sunil Chhetri (77th) scored for India in the regulation time, while Makkon Thierry (29th) and Kingue Mpondo (54th) found the net for Cameroon.
In the tiebreaker, Robin Singh, skipper Chhetri, Denzil Franco and Mehtab Hosain struck to ensure that India managed a clean slate.
Taking the final shot, Makkon hit the post to leave Cameroon shattered, and the Indians jubilant. Ashu C Tambe, Ousmalia, Bebey Kingue Paul and Mpondo scored for the visitors in the shootout.
History repeated itself as the two-time champions, like in the last edition in 2009, defended the crown in shootout.
Earlier India opened the match on the offensive, Sunil Chhetri hitting his right-footer straight to goalkeeper Ngome Lawrence.
India'a urgency prompted coach Koevermans to leave his chair in the dugout and shout instructions to his wards from the sidelines.
The Dutchman's words seemed to have motivated the Indians enough as Gouramangi Singh headed in a Clifford Miranda free-kick from the right in the 19th minute, beating what seemed like an offisde trap, which left the vociferous Sunday turnout jubilant.
It was Chhetri who had earned the free-kick after being felled by Moundi D Gustave. Nabi too was inside the box but it was Gouramangi who tasted success.
Minutes before that Chhetri's header off Sanju Pradhan's delivery went wide.
The Africans were left not far behind as Merime unleashed one that however missed the target by some distance. Cameroon suffered a minor blow when their regular goalkeeper had to leave the post due to an injury, handing over the duty to his deputy Nkessi Hosea.
That he did not concede for the next hour or so, was proof that Hosea did what was expected of him.
In search of an equaliser, Cameroon upped the tempo, and they were rewarded when Makkon's crisp volley off Abouna Jean Patrick's cross that deflected off Pradhan's head, found the back of the net after beating an outstretched Subrata Paul to his right on the 29th minute.
The in-form combination of Makkon and Kologny Merime were always expected to pose problems to the Indians and they did exactly that, rattling the hosts with their darting runs and enterprise upfront.
They came close to scoring towards the end of first half as centre-forward Merime latched on to Makkon's cross from the right but an alert Indian defence was equal to the task. Just
after that Paul effected a brilliant save to once again deny the visitors.
