I was in the Manjaro Bar in Holloway Road by 4.15 to ensure a seat by the bar with a good view of the telly. My Japanese pal Takashi was with me and we were the first people in there. Soon we were getting outside of a couple of bottles of Club Premium Lager and having a laugh with the barmaid.

When the game kicked of at 5pm there were only two other people in the place and though a steady trickle of others duly arrived, it never came near the great atmosphere of Sunday’s quarter-final against Nigeria. The big boss lady appeared and said to me, “How’re you, my darling? All right?” From the start Ghana were handicapped by the fact that their captain Mensah was suspended after being red-carded in Sunday’s game and so Essien dropped back to replace him in central defence. This meant that Junior Agogo was the main strike-force and he had a hard job against a very tough Cameroon defence.

Agogo is built like a tank and it made me wonder what Senior Agogo might look like. Alex Song was outstanding for Cameroon and was a real tower of strength at the centre of his side. This was the first time that I’d been able to hear an English commentary on one of this tournament’s games and so I soon discovered that Cameroon’s number 8 Njitap was in fact Geremi. He’d looked great against Egypt and he also had the best chance of the first half when he blasted a forty-yard free-kick against the bar. It was fairly even with Ghana looking decidedly muted upfront without Essien’s contributions in that department while Cameroon were relying on a lot of route one stuff.

For the first quarter of the second-half Cameroon played in a much more penetrating style and dominated the match. As in nearly every game so far there was plenty of rough and tumble, and most of it looked genuine too. I noticed that the large Ghanaian flag that had been hanging in the window had collapsed into a sad heap in the corner and this seemed like a bad omen. I like Cameroon but had found myself rooting for Ghana. For ten minutes in the middle of the half Ghana turned the tables and dominated the game till in the 70 th minute it looked like they’d got a penalty. For thirty seconds or so there was that delicious anticipation in the bar as we waited for the kick to be taken but then the next thing Ghana were taking a corner instead. This was a disappointment but all at once Cameroon had quickly broken upfield and substitute Nkong had slotted in a great goal that proved to be the winner. This was his first call-up for eight years and it was a timely recall to say the least. There was silence in the bar and very soon two of the punters had left even though there was still twenty minutes or more left.

Ghana had a number of decent chances but never came too close to equalizing and a sombre mood settled upon us. In the 90 th minute I witnessed the strangest sending-off I’ve ever seen. Cameroon’s Richard Song was being treated on the pitch by several of the medical team when his team-mate Bikey suddenly raced up and for some reason pushed one of the medical guys over. Bikey was immediately given his marching orders and had got himself banned from the final. Pillock. His absence brought a glimmer of hope to the faithful in the bar as four minutes of stoppage-time were soon flashed up but Cameroon were defending well and even though Essien was pressing forward more, Ghana weren’t going to get anything out of this game.

Takashi doesn’t drink much as a rule and two large bottles of Club Premium Lager had certainly put wind in his sails but I left him to sup up and, feeling rather low, took myself off to the Gi Gi Hut in Euston Road to stuff my face on their Thai/Chinese eat-as-much-as-you-can (not, as-much-as-you-like) buffet. Sunday’s final at 5 p.m will be between Cameroon and Egypt - they’ve already met in the first round, when Egypt won 4-2 - and I’ll find somewhere Egyptian in which to watch it.

P.S. Send my giro to Cairo.

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