From all indications, there are possibilities that the planned jackpot on the newly designed Cameroon nation team jerseys at the Qatar 2022 World Cup banking on the excellent performance of the team at the Mundial may run into hitches on the possible poor coaching which may likely come from the poor technique of the team’s handler, former captain, Rigobert Song.
The fans have lost confidence in the Chief coach of the team, and they only believe in the employment of a new coach who they strongly believe would help to take them far at the Qatar 2023 World Cup, which Cameroon football fans believe they can present a formidable team that will make the country proud at the Mundial, which they believe will not be dominated only by European teams, African countries putting up a befitting outing going by recent rankings by FIFA that gave top African team the chance to put rave performance.
With the World Cup due to kick off in Qatar just weeks from now, Cameroon’s famously raucous fans are gearing up to give the Indomitable Lions every show of support.
But worry, and not jubilation, is etched on the face of Zobel Wansi — a trader who has become a collateral victim in an ugly row between the Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) and France’s Le Coq Sportif kit maker.
In July, FECAFOOT renounced the contract it had with Le Coq Sportif that ran until 2023, accusing the firm of failing to provide gear for all Cameroonian teams and open promised stores in Cameroon.
Thus began Wansi’s nightmare. The following month, FECAFOOT announced a tie-up with America’s One All Sports, and all his stock was now out of date.
“We laid in big stocks of jerseys before the World Cup,” Wansi said, casting a forlorn look at the Coq Sportif shirts in green, yellow and red in his store at Doula, Cameroon’s economic hub.
At best, he said, “one or two a day” might find a purchaser.
Wansi, who has four children to feed, says his daily turnover has slumped from 100,000 CFA francs (about $150/euros) to under 20,000 francs.
Thomas Djingo, a rival trader on the same street, was equally bitter, although none of the new One All Sports kit can yet be found in the shops.
“Some people are holding back from buying, saying that the new jerseys will be on sale any time soon,” he said.
“If the (new) contract had been signed after the World Cup, we would at least have been able to get rid of our stock,” he sighed.
In the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, the biggest sports goods outlet, City Sport, was almost empty when an AFP reporter visited. Racks of Indomitable Lions shirts with the Coq Sportif logo awaited customers.
A store manager who asked not to be identified questioned whether Cameroon had in fact switched suppliers. Le Coq Sportif on September 27 announced it had filed a lawsuit in France against FECAFOOT for illegal breach of contract, but gave no further details.
In a local bar, fan Boris Essomba was decked out in jersey and shorts by Coq Sportif, and seemed unfazed by the controversy.
“The most important thing is the national colours,” he said, sipping a beer.
Cameroon have qualified eight times for the World Cup — the highest of any African team — although they have never reached the knockout stages.
They have won the Africa Cup of Nations five times. In Qatar, they are grouped with Switzerland, Serbia and mighty Brazil.
Marketing analyst Bouba Kaela said FECAFOOT was keen to squeeze “higher profits” from merchandise.
After signing its deal with One All Sports, FECAFOOT last month issued a call to tender for “entrepreneurs wishing to sell the Indomitable Lions jersey on the national market” – and warning that bidders would be closely scrutinised for their plans to combat counterfeit goods.
“The goal is to prevent forgery by controlling the distribution network in Cameroon, which has never been done before,” a FECAFOOT source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
At present, most of the jersey sales in Cameroon appear to be illegal copies, although the true picture is impossible to know.
A customs official, also asking not to be identified, said the counterfeit jerseys were typically smuggled into the country inside bigger shipments “from China, Turkey or Hong Kong that have been tagged ‘various articles of clothing’.”
FECAFOOT says the tendering process will culminate in the choice of three official jersey distributors — which means that smaller vendors like Wansi will be left on the sidelines.
Cameroon’s big gamble for the World Cup was putting its campaign in the hands of one of its greatest players.
Rigobert Song, a highly respected former captain, was appointed coach in February despite a lack of managerial experience outside of Cameroon’s youth structures. He faces the challenge of trying to take the Indomitable Lions past the group stage of a World Cup for the first time since Roger Milla and Co. made their way to the quarterfinals in 1990 and put African soccer on the map.
Song succeeded in his first mission when Cameroon won a two-legged playoff against Algeria in March to qualify for the tournament in Qatar, although only after a last-ditch goal by Karl Toko Ekambi four minutes into injury time at the end of extra time of the second game.
Subsequent losses to Uzbekistan and South Korea in World Cup warmups have provided a reality check and raised questions about whether federation president Samuel Eto’o, a former teammate of Song, was too hasty in replacing Toni Conceição. The Portuguese coach led Cameroon to a third-place finish at this year’s African Cup of Nations and laid a foundation to build on in Qatar.
No one doubts Song’s huge contribution to Cameroonian soccer. He played at four World Cups, eight African Cups, won two African titles and made a national record 137 appearances for his country. But he has yet to win everyone over in his new role.
Song’s coaching resume is nowhere near as extensive as his playing achievements. A Cameroon “A” team he was in charge of at the African Nations Championship in 2018 finished last in its group and was embarrassed by losses to Republic of Congo and Angola.
The 46-year-old former Liverpool defender coached the Under-23 team before his promotion but the doubts about his ability are set to follow Cameroon to the World Cup, where it plays Switzerland, Serbia and Brazil in Group G.
Cameroon’s attacking threat has been boosted by former France Under-21 international Bryan Mbeumo’s decision to switch allegiance to his father’s home country.
The 23-year-old Brentford forward offers Premier League experience up front alongside Vincent Aboubakar and Toko Ekambi, who were a formidable strike combination and the top two scorers at this year’s African Cup with 13 goals between them. There’s also Bayern Munich forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Holding midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa is arguably Cameroon’s most important player but Song has so far failed to bolster a defense that has a habit of leaking early goals. He hasn’t managed to convince Liverpool defender Joel Matip to return to international duty.
Ghosts of 1990: The Milla team that beat Argentina and Colombia and took England to the wire at the 1990 World Cup in Italy broke barriers for African soccer by reaching the quarterfinals and nearly the semifinals, and is the standard against which every Cameroon team since has been judged. Every one has been a disappointment.
The Central African country may yearn for a repeat of that magical run of 32 years ago but the cold reality is that Cameroon has won only one game at the World Cup since 1990, against Saudi Arabia in 2002.
Cameroon lost all three of its games and had the worst record of all 32 teams at the last World Cup it played at in 2014.
