Australia vs. Cameroon did not matter in any larger sense. Both teams are almost certainly eliminated from the Confederations Cup. God, it was fun though. Both teams played on the front foot, and both teams, while not being good enough to affect the international soccer paradigm very much, are good enough to do one or two cool moves before taking a heavy touch and colliding with a defensive midfielder.
The game was like the show 24: entertaining, violent, fast-paced and utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Look, here's a goal:
Perfect ball, perfect chip.
Cameroon have a 1-0 lead thanks to Zambo Anguissa. @Powerade #CMRAUS #ConfedCup https://t.co/pmibz38HYH— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 22, 2017
That was Cameroon's goal. Australia's goal came after, and I am not making this up, the VAR assistant got a call right. I'm serious, the whole system worked to perfection. The referee was unsure, so he called up the video folks and they said Australia got a penalty, so Australia got a penalty. Not only did they get a penalty, they scored said penalty. And here's the kicker: they DESERVED the penalty. What a time to be alive.
About half the game involved very good players doing skill moves and the other half involved those players writhing in pain because they were feeling themselves too much and danced too close to someone's outstretched leg. I won't remember it tomorrow. It was great.