For various reasons, Africa had a huge excitement at the World Cup being staged in Brazil in 2014. Apart from Brazil ranking among fellow Third World countries, there was this other prospect of African teams excelling to convince FIFA that the continent deserves at least an extra slot going to the 2018 premier contest in Russia.
After tremendous improvement in continental football showcased in the recent past by young football nations like Cape Verde, Sudan and Ethiopia, one would ordinarily expect experienced teams of Nigerian and Cameroonian cadres would be able to compete favourably with the rest of the world.
If Cameroon’s display in their two opening group matches is anything to go by, then as a continent we have failed to convince FIFA that we deserve any more slots other than the five we have traditionally had since France 1998.
To begin with, leaving Yaoundé to Brazil was a hell of a problem. Reason? The perennial bickering over allowances and bonuses could not simply go away. Shame! But that was after head coach Volker Finke named a largely unknown squad that observers dismissed as weak. The only notables were Barcelona Midfielder Alex Song, QPR’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto and veteran Samuel Eto'o.
But to their game, Cameroon showed no commitment at all. Against Mexico they didn’t put in any extra effort. And now to the Croatia game; The Lions simply failed to show up at the drinking well. If the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the Croats does not show enough humiliation to African football.
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In that match the hell’s gate opened with Alex Song- yes the famous Alex of Barcelona- perfectly aiming his elbow at Croatia’s Mario Mandžuki?. Then the red card followed. Then the total disarray of the Indomitable Lions! Then the four goals. Then the shame!
But it didn’t end until that other loner called Assou-Ekotto, head-butted his teammate Benjamin Moukandjo. Okay every World Cup has to ensure lip-readers have a job. What exactly did the poor Moukandjo tell Benoit to deserve all that thick hair of a head in the chest? Only he knows.
To think that Cameroon is Africa’s most experienced country in Samba land and giving such kind of a show is utter embarrassment to the continent. And that CAF President Issa Hayatou is Cameroonian, what a shame!
