2010 FIFA World Cup: Samuel Eto’o is the threat for Denmark
As the FIFA 2010 World Cup is being held in South Africa; naturally, any African team that progresses to the final stages of 23 teams has the capability to create hype. Not just among their home crowd but also among other countries, having impressed them with their ambition and perseverance.
Cameroon happens to have just that advantage and not just that, they also happen to have a good team manageable of upsets as well though. In recent times, they have proven themselves as a tough competitor, with a great star of the team being Samuel Eto’o. Cameroon’s reached the quarter finals of the Cup in Italy in 1990, but since then they have failed at reaching a major stage in international competitions.
A similar case might be relayed with their match against Denmark, as nothing short of a victory will confirm their presence in the race for the World Cup.
Paul Le Guen’s team started the World Cup traditionally; they did look promising in the beginning but soon afterward lost their colour. Prior to the tournament Eto’o had a dispute with the team’s legend Roger Milla, who also happens to be the World cup’s oldest goal scorer. The dispute escalated so much that Eto’o threatened to quit the squad in the end, if there wasn’t an apology. The matter got resolved with time and in the end, he stayed with the team.
Still he must have his doubts about it after the opening match against Japan. Playing on the right wing against the Blue Samurais, the forward from Inter Milan showed a pretty good game along with his team mates with good control of ball and impeccable passing. However, fate played hard on them and The Indomitable Lions lost 1-0. They dominated in the midfield while the forwards put on a good display on the offence but what they lacked was impregnable defence.
Netherlands is so far turning out to be the Group favourites. Below them, there is still an erratic competition between the teams. What Le Guen and his men will have to accomplish is that they will have win at least another game, a point at this stage will simply not make the difference required. If they manage to accomplish their feat, this will be their fist entrance out of the Group Stages in about two decades.
The Danish Coach Morten Olsen has claimed that he has a couple of new tricks under his sleeve for the encounter against Cameroon. He told that in the crucial Group E battle, his side will be blind sided and focus entirely on marking Samuel Eto’o.
While talking to media Olsen told, “Eto'o is one of their key players, just like Nicklas [Bendtner] is for us”. He explained that of course it would be foolish not to acknowledge his skill and be ignorant about his capabilities but so would be setting three defenders out for just his sake. He explained, "But if you have a player that the opposition particularly focus on, it opens up space elsewhere”.
Eto’o had a brilliant season at Barcelona before his transfer to Inter Milan, where he helped them become the victors of the Champions League. Nevertheless, his lack of performance for Cameroon against Japan was apparent and he himself commented on that expressing his sorrow over his performance for Cameroon.
Experts believe that Cameroon will have to build their strategy for dominance against Denmark around Eto’o and it would mediocre of the Danish Dynamites not to consider that.
Their coach Olsen is on mutual terms with the assessment and later stated, “We have to keep a close watch not only to stop Eto'o from scoring but to prevent him setting up opportunities for his team-mates”.
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