Madeleine Michele of Cameroon celebrates during the match between Cameroon and Croatia at the 2019 International Women's Football Tournament in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, April 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
WUHAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Cameroon women's football team snatched a 2-1 victory over Croatia to open a four-nation invitational tournament here on Thursday.
Forward Madeleine Michele Ngono-Mani tabbed in to break the deadlock in the 33rd minute after wasting a couple of chances.
Croatia equalized in 64th minute through defender Izabela Lojna, just seven minutes after Ivana Rudelic's goal was ruled offside.
Cameroon, however, put themselves ahead on the scoreboard after Henriette Michelle Akaba-Edoa kicked in Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene's cross in the 83rd minute.
The Indomitable Lionesses, whose squad included 12 players based overseas, earned free kicks in the 25th and 27th minute with the latter just from a little bit out of the box, but both Therese Abena and Aboudi Onguene missed their chance to score.
With the victory, Cameroon sealed a spot in Sunday's final and will vie for the trophy against the winners between hosts China and Russia, who face off later Thursday.
The tournament in Wuhan is the first international games for Cameroon after they qualified for the Women's World Cup through the 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana last December.
China is the only other team in the four-nation tourney that has made a berth to the finals this summer in France.
