Our second game of the day on Friday was the 2011 Women’s World Cup winning Japan (who beat the US in penalty kicks in the final) vs newcomers Cameroon. Needless to say, I was rooting for Cameroon. Since we were already in the stadium, we got to watch both teams warm-up.

I’m loving the hot pink keeper warm-up kits Cameroon is wearing!

Soon, they’re coming out of the tunnel and lining up for their national anthems.

This game is a little more evenly matched than the Switzerland/Ecuador game earlier.

Japan is definitely the better team, but they don’t look terribly threatening. And Cameroon wants it bad!

Still, Japan manages to score 2 goals in the first 17 minutes.

After that, the game seems to slow down with not a lot happening on either side. At least the fans are still having a good time!

But as the game ticks into its final minutes, Cameroon appears to shake off whatever was holding them back and they start pressing the goal again and again.

Finally, in the 90th minute, they score! Everyone in the stadium is on their feet, cheering!

The final score was 2-1 Japan. They were the better team, but I didn’t think they looked like a World Cup winning team. To be fair though, none of the major teams, except maybe Germany, look like they could win this. I hope things turn around!

Interestingly, even though Japan won, and Switzerland crushed Ecuador, Cameroon managed to land in second place in their group by beating Switzerland on Tuesday, and move on to the knock out rounds. After watching them play, I’m really excited for them! They had so much heart and really seemed to win over the entire stadium by the end, even the Japanese fans. It was so much fun to be a part of!

Thanks to Jenny for this picture!