World Cup preview: Cameroon
Coach: Paul Le Guen
Key player: Samuel Eto’o
Previous best: Quarter finals 1990
It is 20 years since Italia ’90, quarter-finals, Roger Milla dancing with the corner flag and all that.
Cameroon’s success in that tournament represented a glorious high point for African football, which only Senegal in 2002 have matched since, and now The Indomitable Lions enter the first African World Cup with a real hope of progressing out of their group. That though, like most things with this Cameroon side, is unpredictable.
They went into January’s African Cup of Nations in Angola as one of the favourites, only to lose their opening match to an unfancied Gabon. A recovery saw them qualify for the quarter-finals, where they were well beaten by eventual winners Egypt, a result that didn’t go down too well back in Cameroon, but French boss Paul Le Guen has been backed to turn things around.
After taking over from a struggling Otto Pfister, former Lyon, Glasgow Rangers and Paris Saint-Germain coach Le Guen clinched qualification for South Africa with an impressive 2-0 win in Morocco last November, and the scorer of his side’s second goal that day will be vital to his plans.
Inter Milan’s Samuel Eto’o recently became a European champion for the third time in the last five seasons, and won his second consecutive league, cup and Champions League treble after 2009’s success with Barcelona.
Le Guen installed the forward as his captain upon his appointment, taking the armband from veteran centre-back Rigobert Song in the process, but far from upsetting the former Liverpool, West Ham and Galatasaray defender, the decision actually improved his performances. As for Eto’o, well he’s not quite carrying the hopes of a nation, but he’s not far off.
Since their 1990 quarter-final defeat to England, Cameroon have won just one World Cup finals match in nine attempts, and failed to qualify for 2006 in Germany, but they’ve got a better team this time around.
As well as Eto’o, most of their stars are based in Europe, including Mallorca striker Pierre Webó, Lyon’s Jean Makoun, Marseille’s Stephane Mbia, Tottenham Hotspur defensive duo Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Sébastien Bassong, and Rigobert’s younger cousin Alex Song, of Arsenal.
Along with Honduras captain Amado Guevara, the elder Song is the most-capped player heading to the World Cup, and although the Trabzonspor defender isn’t the quickest these days, he is still a good organiser of a defence, which is likely to include fellow veteran Geremi, who also spent last season in Turkey at Ankaragücü.
Goalkeeper Carlos Kameni has been Español’s last line of defence for the last six years, and he could be busy playing behind such an attack-minded side.
Le Guen likes to play a 4-3-3, with a forward line of Eto’o, Webó and Real Betis’ Achille Emana, and if Cameroon get off to a good start in their opening group match against Japan – which they should do – then the following match against Denmark should determine who gains second spot in the group behind the Netherlands.
Cameroon’s quarter final dream probably won’t be realised, but they could at least squeeze into the second round.
It might not be enough to get them dancing with corner flags, but it’s respectable.
Cameroon squad
1 Carlos KAMENI (Espanyol)
2 Benoît ASSOU-EKOTTO (Tottenham Hotspur)
3 Nicolas NKOULOU (Monaco)
4 Rigobert SONG (Trabzonspor)
5 Sébastien BASSONG (Tottenham Hotspur)
6 Alexandre SONG (Arsenal)
7 Landry NGUÉMO (Celtic)
8 GEREMI (Ankaragucu)
9 Samuel ETO’O (Inter Milan)
10 Achille EMANA (Real Betis)
11 Jean MAKOUN (Olympique Lyon)
12 Gaëtan BONG (Valenciennes)
13 Eric CHOUPO-MATING (Nuremburg)
14 Aurélien CHEDJOU (Lille)
15 Pierre WEBÓ (Real Mallorca)
16 Hamidou SOULEYMANOU (Kayserispor)
17 Mohamadou IDRISSOU (Freiburg)
18 Enoh EYONG (Ajax Amsterdam)
19 Stephane MBIA (Marseille)
20 Georges MANDJECK (Kaiserslautern)
21 Joel MATIP (Schalke 04)
22 Guy Roland N'Dy ASSEMBÉ (Valenciennes)
23 Vincent ABOUBAKAR (Coton Sport)
Click here for previews of Cameroon's Group E opponents:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Denmark-a12423
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Japan-a12426
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Netherlands-a12428
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