A football team representing Cameroon triumphed in a tournament celebrating African communities and now has its sights set on a bigger prize next year.
Goals from Stephen Besong and Jerry Puemo saw Cameroon beat Senegal 2-1 in the final of the Lovefoobtall, Love Africa event staged at Ashton Playing Fields, in Woodford.
However, a late Momo Gueye goal for Senegal created some heart stopping moments for the tiring Cameroon side, particularly when their opponents hit the post in the last minute to almost take the final to penalties.
Cameroon had previously beaten Cape Verde in the semi-finals, while Senegal knocked out South Africa, in the event organised by charitable enterprise Creativity Uniting People, which brought together the London UK representative teams of the four African communities for finals day to mark the end of Black History Month.
Action from the final between Cameron and Senegal
All teams have vowed to train hard for the Inner City World Cup tournament that’s hoping to return to the area next summer where they will be aiming to dethrone reigning champions Colombia.
Representative sides for more than 40 countries are expected back for the unique event, which was first staged in Wanstead in 1994 and involved 24 nation teams.
The vision for the tournament was that as London is getting more diverse, it was vital for that unity to be celebrated and encouraged.
The World Cup event has been staged all round the capital since then, but with the right support organisers want to return it to its East London roots in 2021.
Cape Verde beat South Africa to claim third place in the event
The need for a stand alone Lovefootball, LoveAfrica event came about through the success of African representative nations in the Inner City World Cup.
This included Sierra Leone winning the inaugural event in Wanstead and the following three, coming as it did in the midst of a civil war in the African nation which meant the extra numbers of its people who fled to London were plentiful and focused.
They have since lifted the trophy twice more, while Ghana have won it twice and Cameroon and Nigeria once each.
Cameroon are set to defend their trophy next year when it is hoped the event will be played around World Africa Day in May.
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