It showed African teams were not just there to appear. It helped people respect us more.<\/p>\n
Coincidence has a way of rearing its head in football. For Lauren, the 2000 Men\u2019s Olympic Football Tournament was full of chance occurrences and twists of fate. A redemptive semi-final spot-kick, a final against the country where he was raised, which ended in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw \u2013 all moments packed with personal significance.<\/p>\n
Combined, they saw\u00a0Lauren and his team-mates become the first\u00a0Cameroonians to win Olympic gold, in any discipline, the importance of which was not lost on him. \u201cIt was not only for me as an individual, but also for the country,\u201d Lauren said in an exclusive interview with\u00a0FIFA.com<\/strong>. \u201cThe people\u00a0were suffering a lot. The happiness it brought the population made me proud.\u201d<\/p>\n A promising if unspectacular opening 3-2 victory against Kuwait, in which Lauren scored the crucial third, was followed by 1-1 draws against USA and the Czech Republic, with the Arsenal man scoring his side\u2019s only goal against the Europeans. The Africans progressed to play some unforgettable knockout matches.<\/p>\n In the quarter-finals, they faced Brazil. \u201cIn any tournament they are going to be one of the favourites,\u201d Lauren said. \u201cYou meet some players who really assume their role and duties and Patrick Mboma is the kind of guy who enjoys taking charge of the situation. When he saw the free-kick he went straight away to pick up the ball and scored a brilliant goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Ronaldinho equalised deep into stoppage time to send a thrilling game, in which Geremi and Aaron Nguimbat received their marching orders, into extra time. \u201cThe kind of spirit we showed is why Cameroon are known as the [Indomitable] Lions,\u201d Lauren said. \u201cWe just didn’t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n Substitute Modeste Mbami embodied that spirit, thumping home a golden goal to send the nine men through. That meant a semi-final against Chile, against whom Lauren had history. Six minutes into his FIFA World Cup\u2122 debut in 1998, he had been sent off against\u00a0La Roja. <\/em><\/p>\n With the score level at 1-1 in the Sydney 2000 semi-final, and a minute left on the clock, Cameroon were awarded a penalty kick. There was only going to be one man to take it. \u201cI felt that it was my moment, for me to reverse the situation,\u201d Lauren recalled. \u201cI went straight to the ball. I didn’t think about anything else at all, just scoring. It was firstly for myself, secondly for the fans and thirdly for the whole of Cameroon.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Cameroon after his family fled former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea, Lauren was raised in Spain having moved to Seville aged three. That made the final against his adopted homeland an emotional experience. \u201cI had some quite conflicting feelings,\u201d Lauren recalled. \u201cI feel Spanish but Cameroonian as well. To see people who I had played with at the youth academy in Sevilla like Jose Mari or [Carlos] Marchena, it was a strange feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an inauspicious start for\u00a0Les Lions Indomptables,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>a 20-year-old Xavi scored a wonderfully-placed free-kick after just 75 seconds. Then the Spaniards were awarded a penalty in the fourth minute. It was Angulo versus 16-year-old goalkeeper Idriss Kameni.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was so young but he had so much confidence,\u201d Lauren remembered. \u201cHe also had a legend there coaching him in [former Cameroon goalkeeper] Thomas Nkono. Kameni became the extension of Nkono on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Kameni saved. The European side eventually doubled their advantage moments before the interval. A fortuitous Amaya own goal saw Cameroon back into the finale, with Samuel Eto\u2019o firing the Africans level just before the hour-mark. 2-2 after 90 minutes, as it had been in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations final against Nigeria six months previously. As in Lagos in February, it was to be penalties after a scoreless extra time.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a lot of fans who had spent all their savings to see this game, so we could not disappoint them,\u201d Lauren said. \u201cWhat we did was remarkable. There was no fear that we couldn’t win at half-time, even at 2-0 down.\u201d<\/p>\n Three perfect penalties by Mboma, Eto\u2019o and Geremi were followed by a miss for the luckless Spaniard Amaya. Cameroon\u2019s No12 was next. \u201cThe pressure is always there, but it’s about confidence,\u201d Lauren said. \u201cIf I had any doubts that I might have missed I wouldn’t have stepped forward for the penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n He scored, placing his penalty in the same spot he had against Chile. David Albelda responded in kind but Pierre Wome\u2019s decisive kick secured gold. Nearly 105,000 inside Stadium Australia in Sydney had witnessed history.<\/p>\n What next? Four of that Spanish squad – Carles Puyol, Xavi, Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevilla – would lift the World Cup, in Cameroon\u2019s continent, in 2010. Cameroon retained their Cup of Nations crown in 2002, on penalties, with Lauren again\u00a0scoring in the shootout. Half of the Cameroonian Sydney 2000 squad would also head to the 2002 World Cup, where the Lions lost their indomitability, exiting at the group stage. But, for Lauren, the Sydney victory displayed African presence in the latter stages of major tournaments is far from coincidental.<\/p>\n \u201cIt showed African teams were not just there to appear,\u201d Lauren concluded. \u201cIt helped people respect us more, just like Cameroon did [at the World Cup] in 1990. Slowly, we see African teams gaining more respect, like with Ghana reaching the [World Cup] quarter-final [in 2010].”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lauren on Cameroon’s Olympic triumph: Lauren: What we did was remarkable It showed African teams were not just there to appear. It helped people respect us more. Coincidence has a way of rearing its head in football. For Lauren, the 2000 Men\u2019s Olympic Football Tournament was full of chance occurrences and twists of fate. 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