The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon booked a place for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by beating their hosts Morrocco by 2-0 on Saturday. Cameroon will be appearing at soccer’s biggest event for the sixth time – which is an African record.
After an initial defeat to Togo (0-1) and an insipid draw (0-0) in Yaounde with the Atlas Lions of Morrocco last June it looked like Cameroon would miss the event for the second time in a row. But a series of tough decisions by authorities, determination and discipline by the players, astute tactics and man-management by the new technical staff and the unity of purpose displayed by Cameroonians; the team earned qualification in a run of 4 victories in which they scored 9 goals and conceded just one.
The World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations tickets in hand, the time is now for actions to ensure a commendable performance at both tournaments.
The first task is to extend Paul Le Guen’s contract. The Frenchman had signed a short-term deal with the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) . His objective being to qualify the team after 4 games. He has lived up to the billing.
Although he had never managed a national team until his apointment last July, Le Guen imposed discipline and challenged otherwise complacent (but nonetheless talented) players like Rigobert Song, Geremi Njitap, Samuel Eto’o or Jean Makoun to stand-up to their reputation in the African game.
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