Disasters brewing

There is still a long way to go in World Cup qualifying, but dysfunction reigns at Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria after four matchdays in the group stage

- MARK GLEESON

When Cameroon broke new ground for African football by reaching the World Cup quarterfinals in1990, they were coming off strife-filled preparations with in-fighting among the players, a coach who could only speak Russian and a diet of only club matches in the old Yugoslavia to tune-up.

Not ideal preparation by modern, or any standards for that matter, but in adversity the Indomitable Lions triumphed.

That has proven true again some 34 years on as the players shrugged off round after round of posturing and power plays between the country’s sports ministry and football federation over control of the national team – one of the country’s most valued assets – that threatened to scupper their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Cameroon’s soccer body long ago entered into an agreement that government would pay many of their costs and with it ceded their independence. So much so, that football federation president Samuel Eto’o was left humiliated by sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi who unilaterally appointed the Belgian Marc Brys as coach in April. The subsequent fight over whether he would stay or not led to several public skirmishes, including a rather petulant tirade from Eto’o, when confronting Brys, that went viral. In the end, government rarely loses these fights but what was surprising was the players seemed to turn against Eto’o, leaving the former African Footballer of the Year isolated.