Of Senegal, Pierre Lechantre and Cameroon’s Soccer Gold Medal in Sydney

Pierre Lechantre who led Cameroon to victory at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000 has been named as Senegal’s new head coach. Good for Senegal. But it’s curious that Senegalese football authorities and the media have been presenting the Frenchman as the coach who won the men’s soccer Olympic Gold Medal with Cameroon in Sydney, Australia.

“The 62-year-old has previously coached Cameroon, leading them to the 2000 Nations Cup and Olympic titles,” a story published on the BBC website said.

That’s not correct and it is unfair to former Cameroon international, Jean Paul Akono, who was the head coach of Cameroon’s Olympic squad at the Sydney games in 2000. (Read reference to Akono in this CNNSI article from September 2000).

Maybe the confusion arises from the fact that the squad in Sydney included several players (Samuel Eto’o, Pierre Wome, Geremi Njitap, Lauren Etame, Patrick Mboma, Daniel Bekono) who were part of the squad that won Nations Cup in February of that same year under Lechantre.

It is, however, surprising that Lechantre himself has not clarified the situation. He was the head coach (manager) of Cameroon Senior national team while Akono was head coach of the country’s U-23 (Olympic) national team. At the Olympics, teams are authorised to select 3 players above the age of 23, which explains Patrick Mboma’s presence in Sydney.

As the head of the senior team, Lechantre could have been part of the official delegation with (possibly) an advisory role but he was clearly not the manager.

Tactically, Akono played a much higher defensive line than the Frenchman did with the senior Indomitable Lions. Akono’s style depended a lot on catching opponents offside and launching quick counter-attacks (but also meant they conceded many goals or committed dangerous fouls when the line wasn’t firmly held).

Yet some pundits claimed that Akono was lucky to have had a set of young players who, for the most part, were already full internationals who had even won a Nations Cup.

Akono may not be the fan’s favourite (more on that below) but as the saying goes – give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. It was Akono, his assistants: Martin Ndtoungou Mpile (currently deputy head coach of the Indomitable Lions), Engelbert Mbarga and the goalkeeping trainer Thomas Nkono who were taking decisions on the touchline; not Lechantre.

Moreover, Lechantre’s troubles in Cameroon were closely linked to Akono’s “success” at the Olympics as  the then Minister of Sport, Bidoun Mpkatt (currently Minister of Youth Affairs), made Akono head coach of the senior national team and controversially “promoted” Lechantre to the position of National Technical Director in November 2000.

Lechantre’s popularity among many senior internationals, fans and the media led to a vast campaign against the Cameroonian Akono, who was forced to resign following a defeat to Angola in a 2002 World Cup qualifier. Lechantre was re-appointed head coach but he was sacked for good after Cameroon under-performed at the Japan-Korea Confederations Cup in 2001.

Hopefully his time in Senegal will be less turbulent.

Cameroon vs Sudan: Jacques Zoua in Starting Line-up

Denis Lavagne has named Jacques Zoua of Swiss club FC Basel among the players to start for Cameroon against Sudan at the LG Cup in Morocco. It is the youngster’s first senior international cap.

Zoua, who played for Cotonsport under the stewardship of Lavagne, will be part of a three-man forward line that includes team captain Samuel Eto’o and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.

The team is expected to start in a 4-3-3 formation with Enoh Eyong Tarkang (Ajax Amsterdam), Landry Ngeumo (Bordeaux) and Alexandre Song (Arsenal) playing in midfield. Enow is expected to play as the holding midfielder (a la Busquets for FC Barcelona) while N’guemo and Song would push further forward.

The back-four of Benoit Angbwa (Anzhi), Joel Matip (Shalke 04), Georges Mandjeck (Rennes) and Allan Nyom (Granada FC)  will be playing together for the first time and would need a lot of cover from the more experienced midfielders and goalkeeper Idriss Carlos Kameni.

The full line-up then: Kameni; Angbwa (RB), Matip (CB), Mandjeck (CB), Nyom (LB); Nguemo (M); Enoh (M); Song (M); Zoua (FW), Eto’o (ST); Choupo-Moting (FW).

Apart from the goalkeeper, it is the team Gef’s Football Club predicted last evening. It would seem Lavagne has opted for continuity in terms of the formation used by Javier Clemente in his latter days.

Which Cameroon Lions against Sudan?

Cameroon’s new coaching staff  face a tough start to their tenure after nine players they had short-listed for a series of international friendly matches in North Africa withdrew from the squad due to injuries.

With six defenders (3 centre-backs and 3 left fullbacks) unavailable for selection the head coach Denis Lavagne has to stitch up an all new defence line for Friday’s duel with Sudan.

Lavagne would have to play midfielders as defenders. He is lucky to have Joel Matip, Alex Song and Georges Mandjeck who have played in their European clubs at centre-back this season (or even before) whereas they are nominally holding midfielders.

It is likely that one of the right fullbacks (Allan Nyom) would have to slot into the left-back role in the match against Sudan. Two Cameroon based left fullbacks – Abouna Ndzana and Oyongo Bitolo – have been summoned to join the squad and they are expected to be available for selection in the next game.

Whatever the case, coordination would be a challenge, particularly in the defence, as the players have no prior knowledge of each other’s movements.

Denis Lavagne (left) and his assistant Ndtoungou Mpile (right) have to stitch-up the defence (Photo by Linus Pascal Fouda, Team Press Officer)

LAVAGNE’S OPTIONS

It is clear that the defence will be very young and inexperienced with all the probable starters having a grand total of  less than 20 international caps between them. But what about the midfield and attack?  Would Lavagne and his team go for more youthfulness?

For instance, would he dare to keep Samuel Eto’o on the bench and start with an attack line including the likes of Jacques Zoua, Bienvenu Ntsama and Vincent Aboubakar who used to play under his stewardship at Cotonsport Garoua in Cameroon?

The Lions need to be united to succeed despite the injuries (Photo by Linus Pascal Fouda, Cameroon Team Press Officer)

Lavagne had surely based his tactical options on the skills of certain players who are absent. It would be interesting to see how the Frenchman opts to play.

In the final days of Javier Clemente’s reign as Cameroon manager, the team seemed to be toying with a 3-man midfield and 4-3-3 formation. But the Spaniard often reverted to a 4-2-3-1. Would Lavagne stick to these formations?

I know that Lavagne’s assistant, Ndtoungou Mpile, favours the 4-4-2, usually with two holding midfielders and two wide men. When he needed to win a game at all cost, the former Junior Lions manager would field a diamond midfield (1 holding midfielder,2 shuttlers instead of wingers and 1 playmaker behind the front 2) .  Will Lavagne use these ideas?

Possible team: Ndy Assembe; Benoit Angbwa-Joel Matip, Georges Mandjeck – Allan Nyom; Landry N’Geumo, Enow Eyong, Alex Song; Samuel Eto’o, Choupo Moting, Jacques Zoua.

Cameroon face Guinea Bissau in 2013 Africa Cup Qualifiers

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will face Guinea Bissau in the first phase of qualifiers of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

The home and away knock-out games will be played in January 2012 at the same time as the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

These will be the first competitive games for Cameroon’s newly appointed technical staff headed by Frenchman Denis Lavagne.

Cameroon fans have to get set for the upcoming games

The Nations Cup is being switched from even to odd years so there is only one year between the next two events.

As a result the qualifiers for the 2013 competition have been divided into three parts:

• A first preliminary stage involving the four  lowest ranked teams that are not qualified for the Africa Cup in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. As such  Seychelles will play against Swaziland while Sao Tome take on Lesotho.
• The winners of these games plus 26 other countries that have not qualified qualified for the 2012 edition of the Africa cup will face each other in head-to-head (home and away) knock out games (see pairings below).
• The winners of these games will then be paired against teams that will participate in the 2012 Africa Cup. These games will also be home and away, head-to-head fixtures.
• The fifteen teams that emerge from this process will join hosts South Africa in the 2013 tournament.

Here is the complete fixture list as drawn by the Confederation of African Football:

Preliminary round one:

Seychelles v Swaziland

Sao Tome v Lesotho

Preliminary round two:

Ethiopia v Benin

Rwanda v Nigeria

Congo Brazzaville v Uganda

Burundi v Zimbabwe

Algeria v The Gambia

Kenya v Togo

Sao Tome/Lesotho v Sierra Leone

Guinea Bissau v Cameroon

Chad v Malawi

Seychelles/Swaziland v DR Congo

Tanzania v Mozambique

Central African Republic v Egypt

Madagascar v Cape Verde

Liberia v Namibia

Cameroon’s Lionesses win Gold at All-Africa Games

Cameroon’s women have won All-Africa Games gold for the first time by beating Ghana 1-0 in the women’s football final at Maputo’s national stadium while the men’s (U-23) team won Bronze at the tournament.

Madeleine Mani Ngono headed in a cross in the 56th minute in the Ladies’ final that was played in front of a very small crowd, the BBC reported on Saturday.

“We’re very pleased, but Nigeria are still the best team in Africa,” said Cameroon coach Enow Ngachu.

The victory is Cameroon’s greatest achievement in women’s football, the BBC said (full match report here).

Meanwhile Cameroon’s men’s team beat Senegal 5-4 after post-match penalty-kicks in the third place play-off game. Both teams were tied at 1-1 after normal time, Cafonline reported.

Cameroon won this tournament thrice in a row (1999, 2003 and 2007) but their hegemony ended this year when Ghana defeated them 1-0 at the semi-finals on Wednesday.

Cameroon under Clemente (seen from a year ago)

Javier Clemete, head coach of Cameroon at a press conference

It is now a year since Javier Clemente was appointed as head coach of the Cameroon national football team. As I prepared to post an assessment of his tenure this far, I found hidden beneath the drafts section of this blog, an article I had written last year as a preview of Clemente’s reign.

For several reasons including being busy with the work that (actually) earns me a living, I somehow forgot to click the publish button.

Apart from verifying if our predictions about Clemente were correct, it is only fair and honest that I post how I previewed his tactics and man-management upon his appointment  before any review of his time with the Indomitable Lions (hoping I don’t forget the review in my drafts!).

As written in August 2010:

On 4 September (2010), the island state of Mauritius will host the first pride of Lions under Javier Clemente’s mantle. The players were probably selected by his assistants but we would expect to see a touch of Clemente in terms of tactics and formations in that Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Some pundits think that under the Spaniard, Cameroon could play like the current Spanish national football team. That may be unlikely.

In his home country, Clemente is typically associated to  what Sid Lowe, a British journalist covering Spanish football, described as “defensive, devious and downright dirty football.”

His baseline strategy is to have two defensive midfielders in front of the centre-backs, operating deep and dispossessing the opposition. 

“His sides then hit the opposition on the break, if he has the right people,” says Phil Ball another Spanish football pundit. 

Clemente prefers players who cover spaces to maintain defensive balance and is supposedly fond of using defensive midfielders and centre-backs everywhere on the pitch.

With more than half of Cameroon’s Europe-based footballers being defensive midfielders, he surely has the implements he needs.

It might not be eye-catching at times, but it would often get the result. In his six years as Spain’s head coach he lost only 6 of the 62 games they played.

Considering that the Lions finished the World Cup without a single point (31^st out of 32 teams), that they have conceded 23 goals in 13 matches (including a run of 10 games without a single win), maybe Cameroon football officials thought a man with such a history of repairing defensive leaks was the best bet to turn the tides.

SAVING DESPERATE LIONS

Cameroon media claimed that disorder and indiscipline in the Lions’ den (as usual) led to their woeful output in South Africa.  If the stories of bloated egos and clashes between players are a reality, it would be interesting to see how things work in a dressing room run by someone described as a “crass, tactless bully.”

He is said to be honest and direct to a fault, telling his players his mind and ready to pick a fight with anyone who thinks they are too big to toe the line.

My concern, however, is that authorities who were talking of long-term building, four year contracts, “no more quick-fix coaches,” etc seem to have ended up with a manager whose profile is that of man called up to rescue desperate teams that have dug themselves into a hole.

“People who have a problem, people who think that no one else can help, people who can find him,” is how Lowe described teams that hire Clemente.

“People like Athletic Bilbao, who called upon him when they were threatened by relegation in 2005-06 and saw him get a reaction, picking up 22 of the last 36 points to pull clear,” Sid Lowe wrote in the British newspaper, the Guardian.

How come FECAFOOT scouts didn’t spot Clemente in June 2009 when the Lions were in limbo requiring some emergency aid to qualify to the World Cup? Instead they hired Paul Le Guen, who ended up as a talent scout and long-term planner (bringing in many youngsters into the team).

“If you are struggling, leaking goals and are down on your confidence, the last thing you need is the arrival of a revolutionary young guru, with ambitious and complex new ideas,” Phil Ball wrote in an article for ESPN.

Who knows? Maybe Cameroon authorities were thinking along these lines when they hired Clemente.

Good decision-making, though, has hardly been their greatest asset. The performances of the Lions under Clemente will be the judge of their wisdom.

Samuel Eto’o “Should Go” to Anzhi Makhachkala – ESPN Pundit

Samuel Eto'o has to choose between €20 million in Dagestan and Inter Milan

Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o should accept a big-money offer by Dagestan-based club Anzhi Makhachkala and leave Inter Milan (Italy),  a football (soccer) pundit at U.S.-based TV channel ESPN has said.

“I think he should go if that money is true,” Janusz Michallik said on ESPN Soccernet Press Pass.

Anzhi Makhachkala is offering to pay Eto’o 20 million euros net (i.e after tax) yearly for three years if he accepts to join the club that is owned by billionaire, Suleyman Kerimov, and  plays in the Russian Premier League.

Michallik said nobody would begrudge the three times winner of the European Champions League, four times African Player of the Year, Olympic Gold Medal and twice Africa Cup winner with Cameroon, for leaving if such money is on offer.

“He’s been a great servant of the game, he’s won just about everything there is to be won,” he said.

Although negotiations are underway between Eto’o's current employers Inter Milan and the Russian club, the striker mentioned a possible move to England at a press conference over the weekend in his native Cameroon.

The local media have been quick to interpret that as a suggestion that Eto’o could be involved in a move to Manchester City which would see Carlos Tevez moving in the other direction.

Eto’o's home fan-base is split over the issue. There are those who think the Russioan proposal is too good to be dropped given that the striker has already had as much success as he would want (apart from the World Cup).

Others would like to see their national team captain stay in western Europe playing in a more competitive league such as the English Premier League.

However, England-based journalist Gabrielle Marcotti thinks Eto’o only has two choices now – either go to Russia or stay with Inter in Italy. He argued that a move to Manchester City was unlikely as the English club (though extremely rich) would struggle to match the wages promised by the Russian club given the high tax rates in the U.K.

“The money is 20 million euros net. Now if Manchester City wanted to pay him that much…with the 50 percent tax rate here in England they’d have to offer 40 million euros which is £37 million which is about $55 million and that would be for 3 years,” Marcotti explained on ESPN Soccernet Press Pass.

“Samuel Eto’o would become the highest paid athlete in the world bar none,” Marcotti added.

Until a deal is settled in the days ahead, speculation would continue over the future of the 30-year-old Cameroonian who still hopes to feature at the 2014 World Cup  in Brazil.

[Click here to watch the 15 August Edition of ESPN Soccernet Press Pass on which the issue was discussed. You would have to wait (or fast-forward) until 44 mins 52 secs for discussion on Eto'o to start.]

Cameroon in U-20 World Cup 8th Finals, Ndtoungou Keeps Record

Cameroon will play against Mexico in the round of 16 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Columbia after they defeated Uruguay 1-0 to finish as runners-up in Group B on Friday.

Their coach Martin Ndtoungou, by the same token maintains his little-known record of being part of the coaching staff of every Cameroon national team that has crossed the first round of an international (non-African) competition since 2000.

Cameroon Football Fans

He was Jean Paul Akono’s assistant when Cameroon won Olympic Gold in Sydney (2000) and Winfried Schaeffer’s number 2 when Cameroon reached the final of the FIFA confederations Cup and lost to a Thierry Henri golden goal in 2003.

He led the fine pride of U-23 Lions that reached the quarter-finals of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 (only to lose to Ronaldinho’s Brazil); and now he has taken this set of cubs to the knock-out stage of the World Cup.

Successful Tactical Switch

It wasn’t an easy ride. The coach had to make a few changes after the team drew (1-1 with New Zealand) and lost (0-1 to Portugal) in its opening two games.

He changed his tactics from a flat 4-4-2 to a diamond midfield (4-1-3-2) with just one holding midfielder Frank Kom and a playmaker (engache) Emmanuel Mbongo Ewangue operating behind two strikers: Frank Ohandza and Christ Mbondi.

The passing was haphazard and sloppy at the start of the game. However, the flexibility of Ndtoungou’s tactics – which permitted the team to shift into a 4-2-1-3 with an attacking threesome of Mbondi (wide left) Ohandza (centre) and Yazid Atouba (wide right) supported by Mbongo –  delivered the goods as Mbongo scored the lone goal of the game from a cross by Mbondi in the 28th minute of play.

Eyewitnesses say after the game the team exploded with joy.

“Players singing and dancing some even shouting at the top of their voices,” Simon Lyonga, CRTV’s envoy in Columbia told me. “It shows that they too badly needed the win and the second round ticket,” he added when we had a debrief shortly after the game.

But Lyonga, who represented Cameroon at youth level and has covered several international competitions as a reporter, was quick to warn against any complacency saying the team must focus on the challenges to come against Mexico and forget the euphoria of beating Uruguay.

And he’s right.

Could be better

There was victory over Uruguay but creativity remains a weakness in the team with too many hopeful balls from the goalkeeper to the attackers.

The fact that Ndtoungou Mpile has changed formations in every game and tested several players as playmaker shows he is worried.

Mbongo and Herve Mbega alternated as playmakers against Uruguay while Clarence Bitang often confused playmaking with irrelevant flicks and dribbles which ended with Cameroon  losing possession when he held the role against Portugal. (He came on as a substitute against Uruguay).

Will Ndtoungou continue with his diamond/4-2-1-3 formations which require a quality ‘engache’ or will he return to his favoured flat 4-4-2 with two holding midfielders?

Learn how to score

Then there is the small (but important) matter of scoring goals. The Junior Lions have made it to the round of 16 with only 2 goals scored (we can’t tally their own goal for New Zealand!).

But someone has to teach Frank Ohandza how to score a goal! He must stop missing like he did at the 25th, 35th, 66th, and 70th minutes when  gaffes by the Uruguay keeper and defence gifted him with scoring opportunities that he wasted.

Ndtoungou and his assistant, Engelbert Mbarga, must be cursing the European clubs that refused to allow sharp-shooters like Jacques Zoua Dogari (FC Basel, Switzerland) and Vincent Aboubakar (Rennes, France) from joining the squad.

The coaches can only imagine how Shalke midfielder Joel Matip’s clean interceptions and his eye for a forward pass and Monaco’s Edgar Sali’s technique and penetrative skills could have been useful to unlock defences. But they are both absent as well.

Ndtoungou has shown in this competition and in the past (All Africa Games, Olympics and African Youth Championships) that he knows how to blend the (little talented) players at his disposal to make winning teams. Let’s see if his science will work against Mexico.

Manchester United beat Matip’s Shalke in Champions League semi-final

Cameroon’s Joel Matip will have very few good memories of his first ever UEFA Champions League semi-final. He was part of a Shalke 04 team that lost 0-2  and was turned inside-out by Manchester United on Tuesday.

Matip started well in the centre-back role he was expected to handle in the absence of the injured Benedikt Höwedes. He made a few challenges and powerful blocks that prevented Wayne Rooney, Javier  Henandez (a.k.a Chicharito) and Park Ji Sung from giving United an early breakthrough.

However, Shalke was not compact enough – leaving a lot of space between the lines. Park, Rooney and Ryan Giggs did not hesitate to fill these gaps which often meant that Matip and his centre-defensive partner, Metzelder, were often exposed and faced with 2 v 1 situations.

To make matters worse for Matip, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Jurado who played as the central midfielders meant to protect the centre-backs  (Matip’s usual role)  were tame ,  did not press high-up the pitch to prevent United’s midfielders from passing freely and often failed to track-down the men they were supposed to mark (i.e. Rooney-Giggs/Carrick).

Jurado failed to pick-up Ryan Giggs’ run between the lines leaving the 37- year-old Welshman alone to slot the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for the curtain-raiser.

Two minutes later, Papadopoulos forgot to track Rooney who combined beautifully with Hernandez and slid into the space between Shalke’s defence and attack. Matip found himself having to decide whether to close-down Rooney or Hernandez (2 v 1) and ended-up in-between; allowing the Englishman to beat the goalkeeper for the second goal.

Matip, who is Cameroon’s lone representative at this level of the tournament, is still 19-years-old and has time on his side to reach greater heights. He is intelligent and has good positional awareness  when he plays in midfield but he must work on his pace, especially when he is fielded in the centre of defence.

Shalke  need to beat Manchester United with three clear goals in the second-leg to hope for a place in the final at Wembley at the end of May. That would be hard to achieve, if one has to go by the ease with which United played in Germany.

The English premier league leaders’ passing was sublime, Michael Carrick completely bossed the midfield, while Rooney displayed variety – dropping deep to support the midfield and darting forward to act as second striker. Were it not for Neuer’s great goalkeeping, United would have won by not less than 6-0.

Africa U-20: Three Lessons learned from Cameroon’s 1-1 draw with Ghana

Cameroon finished top of their Africa Youth Championship group with seven points after scoring a late goal to draw 1-1 with Ghana on Sunday.

Midfielder Emmanuel Ewangue Mbongo headed home for the junior Indomitable Lions  after the Ghanaian goalkeeper completely flapped his outing to stop an Edgar Salli corner in the dying seconds of the game (92^nd minute).

On Thursday Cameroon will play against Egypt (second in pool A), while the Flying Eagles of Nigeria who finished second in Cameroon’s pool B (with six points) will clash with the Mali’s young Eagles (who topped pool A). These four teams will represent Africa in July’s FIFA Youth Championships (U-20 World Cup) in Columbia.

What are the lessons Cameroon may have learned from the game against Ghana?

Lesson 1: Cameroon’s benchwarmers can stop Ghana…

The Ghanaians, who are the reigning Africa U-20 Champions, scored in the 21^st minute of play but the draw means they finish with only 2 points, cannot make it to the semi-finals and will not defend their World Championship crown.

The fact that the Ghanaians were unable to beat what was essentially a second-string Cameroon team speaks volumes about Ghana’s  below average performance at this tournament.

Cameroon’s head coach, Martin Ndtoungou Mpile,  had made whole-sale changes in order to rest some of the key players to who had qualified the squad to the semi-finals (and by the same token the World Cup) by beating the Gambia and Nigeria on an identical 1-0 scoreline.

Eric Ngana replaced Efala Ngonguep as the goalkeeper while Yann Songo’o, Mbongo, Armand Ela Ken and Alain Bruno Bati started for the first time in the midfield. Christian Toko Edimo and Joel Tageu who had been bit-part players in the other games had an opportunity to prove their worth up-front. At the defence, Ghislain Mvom who had played against the Gambia and Nigeria as a centre-back started at a right-back while Vincent Bikala slotted in the centre of defence to partner Yaya Banana.

Lesson 2: But Cameroon’s benchwarmers are not great…

Honestly, the changes didn’t click. The team seemed out of its depth particularly in the first-half where the Ghanaians ran the show. Cameroon’s passing was really poor between and there was no coordination between the various parts. This was exemplified by repeated confusion between the centre-backs Yaya Banana and Bikala and their rather shaky goalkeeper.

Cameroon stepped-up their game once Ndtoungou Mpile decided to substitute Alain Bati bringing on Edgar Salli at the start of the second-half. Yet, the passing at midfield only improved when the coach brought in Nyantchou of Panthere Bangante and Jacques Haman of Cotonsport Garoua.

From the 70^th minute Cameroon piled pressure on the Ghanaians who scarcely crossed their half of the field and resorted to fouls. It seemed the arrival of the regular starters and news of Nigeria’s curtain-raiser in their game against the Gambia had sparked them into action.

Seeing that Cameroon only clicked when Salli, Haman and Nyantchou came on, it is clear that most of the players who were tested on Sunday will return to their bench-warming positions if the Lions have to make any impact in the semi-finals next week (not to mention the World Cup in July).

Lesson 3: Cameroon still has to work on scoring goals

The junior Lions created more chances towards the end of the encounter but as in the previous games their finishing continued to be wasteful.  The coaches would have to work on precision and target shooting before the next games.

The centre-forward Tageu was a real let-down. His midfielders served him with several through-balls but he was unable to make contact or proper use, often looking tired and heavy. Haman troubled the Ghanaian defence when he came on but it wasn’t uncommon to see him blazing wide ever-so-often.

Fortunately, the coaches had tweaked the formation from 4-4-2 to a 4-1-2-3 to ensure that Cameroon pressed high-up the pitch and pushed the Ghanaians to commit several fouls and concede about half a dozen corner-kicks.

Cameroon scored from one of these corner-kicks. It is the second Cameroonian goal to come from a set-piece. The Lions have scored only three (3) goals so far!!! It may not be worrying (for now) because of the sturdy defence and midfield but something needs to be done (for the future) about scoring goals.