Guinea took an unexpected lead just 10 minutes in as they capitalised on some woeful defending from Olivier Kemen. Cameroon failed to clear the danger after a shot was saved and Kemen buckled under the pressure as he knocked the ball towards Mohamed Bayo who fired in the opener.
Things got tough for Guinea later in the half, however, as Francois Kamano was sent off for a nasty challenge. Cameroon managed to capitalise on their numerical advantage five minutes into the second half as Georges-Kevin N'Koudou's excellent cross found Frank Magri at the back post and the attacker headed in with his team's first effort on target.
Although Cameroon kept the ball in Guinea's half for the rest of the game, they could not find a way through until the 88th minute when Karl Toko Ekambi had a shot saved.