WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : It’s the Swedes Who Roar Back : Group B: Cameroon has to settle for 2-2 tie before 83,959 at the Rose Bowl.

Everyone who watched the Lions of Cameroon play in their second World Cup four years ago knew they would at the least provide entertainment in this one. Considering the distractions they have faced off the field, however, hardly anyone expected them to be as successful as they were in Italy, where they became the first African team to reach the quarterfinals.

But after a 2-2 tie with a confident Sweden team before 83,959 fans at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, who knows? As their nickname boasts, perhaps the Lions are indomitable.

They were as committed to an all-out offensive attack as they were in 1990, and their defense under Coach Henri Michel was more disciplined. That doesn’t mean that they are really disciplined--only more disciplined.

Michel, the French coach when they won the Olympic gold medal 10 years ago in the same stadium where his Lions opened World Cup play Sunday, complained that they lost their concentration near the end of the game, allowing Sweden to equalize in the 75th minute.

It had seemed unlikely that the Swedes would do so after wilting in the heat, which was reported in the low 90s at the 4:30 p.m. kickoff. They complained afterward that the conditions favored the Cameroonians, who responded that they had no advantage because so many of them play professionally in Europe instead of Africa.

Whatever, the Swedes were certainly feeling the heat from the Lions when Coach Tommy Svensson sent on 22-year-old midfielder Henrik Larsson in the 61st minute. That move paid dividends 13 minutes later when he boomed a shot from 35 yards out that hit the crossbar.

Cameroon’s veteran goalkeeper, 40-year-old Joseph-Antoine Bell, faltered in reacting to the rebound, which forward Martin Dahlin slipped past him in the 75th minute.

That came only four minutes after Bell had taken too many steps with the ball before a goal kick, a violation that resulted in an indirect free kick from just inside the penalty area for Sweden.

Known at home as “the Black Pearl,” Dahlin brought the yellow-shirted Swedish fans to their feet by appearing to score on the ensuing flurry in front of the goal, but he had touched the ball with his hand first.

Dahlin received an automatic yellow card for that, but the episode was an encouraging one for the Swedes because it gave them hope that the Lions could be had. Thus revived, the Swedes soon had them.

Svensson said his team in the final minutes was “real brave.”

Semifinalists in the 1992 European Championships in Denmark, Sweden showed during the first 20 minutes why some, including several of its players, predicted it would be a force in the World Cup.

In the seventh minute, midfielder Jonas Thern found no one near the far post except three of his teammates and sent his free kick in that direction. It was an easy header into the net for defender Roger Ljung.

Would the Lions disintegrate? After all, reports from Cameroon were that they were on the verge of it even before they arrived at their Oxnard training camp because of interfering soccer federation and government officials, missed paychecks and substandard training conditions. But the Lions do not go down easily. In nine World Cup games since 1982, they have lost only twice.

“There have been various reports of disharmony within the Cameroon team,” Bell said. “Our play today shows these reports are not true.”

Cameroon got its attack organized about 20 minutes into the game and took control after an odd goal 10 minutes later tied the score. After a Cameroon charge, defender Patrik Andersson tried to clear the ball out of the area only to have it blocked by midfielder Marc Vivien Foe, who suddenly was a threat to score. When Sweden goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli challenged him, Foe tapped the ball to forward David Embe, who scored into an empty net.

The Swedes argued that Embe was offside, but referee Alberto Tejada Noriega of Peru, after conferring with linesman Douglas James of Trinidad and Tobago, ruled that it was a goal.

Cameroon took the lead only two minutes into the second half when forward Francois Omam-Biyick beat Andersson, again the foil, to defender Hans Agbo’s long ball and dribbled over a lunging Ravelli and into the net.

Sweden would have been looking at a 2-1 defeat, the result of each of its three games in the 1990 World Cup, against most teams, but Cameroon is not most teams.

For that, the soccer world is grateful. But Michel no doubt would have found the game more enjoyable if his team had retreated into a defensive posture to preserve the victory. Instead, the Lions insisted on continuing to apply the heat, and it was they who got burned. Still, it is heartening to know that the rumors of their demise were exaggerated.