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Cameroon’s defining moment
From Petros Kausiyo in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
TONIGHT is the night for Cameroon.
The Indomitable Lions face the defining moment of their 2010 World Cup when they face Denmark in a battle of the Group E winless sides at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria at 8:30pm.
Cameroon, one of the continent’s major hopefuls in a tournament being hailed for being Africa’s World Cup slumped to a surprise 1-0 defeat to Japan in their opening group game at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein with Keisuke Honda finding the target for the Samurai Blue.
Denmark also found the going tough when losing 2-0 to Netherlands in Johannesburg.
But it was Cameroon’s defeat that sent shock waves across the continent with many questions being asked of the Indomitable Lions’ capacity to lift their game.
Cameroon have the proud record of being the only African country to have been to five previous World Cups.
They also qualified to the quarter-finals at the 1990 tournament, a feat only matched by Senegal, who are, however, absent from this competition with the Teranga Lions having fallen on tough times.
But for all their experience and the wave of expectations that followed their qualification for this year’s finals, Cameroon looked anything but a team that would go beyond their group games if the manner in which they fell to Japan is anything to go by.
It was also the first time that Cameroon were losing a game in an opening match of the World Cup, but all the doubts being cast about their character, goalkeeper Souleymanou Hamidou is confident his side will put on a better showing in their clash against Denmark.
Now the Indomitable Lions know they just have to win tonight’s game if they are to avoid the ignominy of an early exit. Hamidou has been optimistic of better times ahead and reckoned that the fans "will see the real Cameroon in our next game’’.
"We could’ve beaten Japan, but unfortunately we didn’t. We tried everything at the end but that’s the way football goes.
"Now we must start well against Denmark and give everything to get all three points," said Hamidou.
Cameroon’s French coach Paul Le Guen blasted his players’ approach to their game against Japan and felt it had largely contributed to their defeat.
But the Frenchman has also come under fire for his decision to play the Indomitable Lions’ talisman Samuel Eto’o out of position.
Somehow Le Guen believed the Inter Milan striker would be effective wide on the right when the Cameroon skipper has made his reputation as a fox in the box, a feat underlined by the fact that he is his country’s leading scorer.
Pressure has been mounting on Le Guen to change his tactics for tonight’s game and Eto’o, who himself has had a fallout with Cameroon legend Roger Milla, yesterday added to that pressure when he revealed that he preferred a more central striking role.
With such players like Uruguay’s Diego Forlan and Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain making a huge difference for their countries in the box, Eto’o may be right in demanding a change.
There were reports too yesterday from the Cameroon dressing room that the senior players within the ranks have called on Le Guen to drop the inexperienced members of the team against Denmark, as the likes of Rigobert Song, Geremi and Alex Song were all left on the bench in the opening tie with the coach fielding a side that was the second youngest at this tournament.
Monaco defender Nicolas N’koulou, who is 20 years old, the 18-year-old Schalke 04 midfielder Joel Matip, German-born striker Maxim Choupo-Moting (21) who plays for FC Nurnberg and 23-year-old Tottenham Hotspur defender Sebastien Bassong are some of the young players in the Indomitable Lions squad.
But with his team desperately needing a win as a draw would still not be enough for them, Eto’o added his voice and said he preferred to become a central striker.
"At the end of the World Cup, Paul must answer to the officials. And me, as a player and captain, I must do the same," he said.
"I played where the coach wanted. I gave it everything and I tried to put my teammates in good positions to do their job.
"I am the best scorer in the history of the Cameroon national team because I play in a certain position."
If Netherlands and Japan draw in the other group game at the weekend, then a defeat would see either Cameroon or Denmark eliminated.
Midfielder Enoh Eyong Takang is also very much aware that the West Africans would have to do more than what they showed against the Japanese when their best chance of the day came five minutes from the end via a Stephen Mbia long range drive that crashed against the cross bar.
"It really is a do-or-die game. We must win it if we want a chance to progress.
"We have to get the strike force going. We will have to score on Saturday," said Takang.
Denmark appear to have their own injury worries too with Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner missing the team’s afternoon training on Thursday in order to attend physiotherapy for a groin injury that forced him out of the game against Netherlands after just an hour.
Bendtner’s fitness had been a doubt ahead of the Danes’ opener against the Dutch.
Denmark defender Simon Poulsen, scorer of an own goal that gave Netherlands their fist goal will also be hoping to out behind the nightmare of his mistake when the Europeans arrive at Lotfus tonight.
Tonight’s game is the third meeting between the two sides with each having won one apiece.
Both their previous meetings were friendly matches played in Copenhagen with either side winning 2-1.
The Indomitable Lions, however, have to win to end a winless streak that has run into seven games comprised of four defeats and three draws.
Cameroon last remembered how to win in January when they beat Zambia in an African Cup of Nations group game in Angola. |
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