The Indomitable Lions

Welcome, my name’s Chris and I’m whoring myself out to the Cameroon World Cup Blog for the African Cup of Nations. Why Cameroon? I dunno. Honestly. Though it might very well be the fact that the” Indomitable Lions” is the coolest name for a football team in the history of cool names. You could call it an “experiment” I guess, but there doesn’t seem to be any end result other than, “hey, that was awesome”. And no one can throw themselves onto a bandwagon for the duration of a tournament like I can. So who knows, maybe it’ll go well and it’ll be enough to make me a devoted fan for the long term. (I can tell already I’m going to love this team. Don’t ask why.) I’m stoked.

The reason why I decided to jump on board is that there are too many teams left open on this site and damnit, it’s a helluva tournament that doesn’t get enough love in the mainstream media. More often the subject line has to do more with what big team is losing what players for the tournament (I’m looking at you, Chelsea), instead of focusing on a damn awesome tournament. I love some of the footballers that Africa has provided to the rest of the world over the past however many years and think that if Africa can greatly improve infrastructure and scouting (no, I’m not expecting to wake up tomorrow to a pipeline of highly developed prospects to Europe), we’re looking at a European takeover. They deserve a spotlight. Ergo…

As far as this team goes, they’re usually one of the better teams on the continent, and this team is no different. They have some highly skilled youngsters at least knocking on the door of some European powerhouses, some seasoned, quality veterans and one standout guy who I hear is pretty decent. Think his name is Eto’o or something. (I went an entire first two paragraphs in a Cameroonian national football team blog without talking about Samuel Eto’o. Is that a world record?)

Still have a long way to go, but I wanted to get some stuff out of the way early. A basic little overview of important info before we go head on into full preparation mode.

Expectations.: Well, it’s hard to call them a “favorite”, per say, at this point. That tag is being reserved for Ghana, Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire. But the Indomitable Lions have both history and talent on their side, so anything can happen.

I’m not a fan of the FIFA ranking, therefore I use the World ELO ranking, which is usually 800 billion times more accurate to the naked eye. The African nations and their rankings:

21. Cote d’Ivoire
27. Ghana
30. Nigeria
34. Cameroon
39. Egypt

The personal favorite to finish second is Ghana (behind Cameroon, of course). That whole tournament hosting thing can’t be accentuated enough. (That and Drogba’s gimpy.)

I’ll go ahead and say that the Indomitable Lions can, and probably should, advance through to the knockouts. After that it almost always depends on the draw unless there’s a clear favorite, which there doesn’t seem to be. Do I think Cameroon can go on and win their 3rd Cup of this decade? Absolutely.

The Group/Schedule.:

1/22 Egypt
1/26 Sudan
1/30 Zambia

It’s a tough group, but far from a “Group of Death” (helllllooooo Group B: Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Benin). The first game on the 22nd is going to be one of the most anticipated games of the group stage, as Egypt is not only good, but also the defending champs. The toughness in this group doesn’t lie with them necessarily (losing to the defending champs is a tough pill to swallow, but not the end of the world), but in Zambia. Sudan is by far the easiest game of the early round, but Zambia, while no powerhouse, presents a mental challenge of preparedness. Take them lightly and you may pay - big time. Especially if it’s a deciding game.

The Coach.: There is going to be a whole 5,000 word post about this, but Otto Pfister is the coach, and people (some important ones) weren’t exactly doing cartwheels when he was appointed.

* - I was lying about that 5000 word thing. Please lower expectations accordingly.

The Superstar.: This guy’s decent and sorta important. After suffering major injuries the past 12+ months, he’s returned in spectacular form. Since returning on the 9th he’s played 5 games and scored 4 goals. Methinks he’s gonna be alright. And there has been an accord allowing him to stay in Spain for an extra week, which is probably ideal from both sides. Barca has two games, including a midweek cup encounter with fellow decent team Sevilla; Eto’o has been playing for less than a month, and while training camp is all kinds of wonderful, game time is better for form and fitness (kinda - see below). Everybody’s scratching everybody else’s back here. Barca’s happy because they get Eto’o for an extra week, Cameroon and Eto’o are happy because this means a better prepared Samuel will likely show up (considering the time spent in the stands). I’m happy because I get to watch Samuel twice more before the 22nd. Happiness all around. (Bobby McFerrin is somewhere beaming a grin of justification right now.)

The Kit.: They’re a lightning rod for controversy here. Puma, their official sponsor, seems to have used them as their real-life mannequins as they try to radically alter footballing fashion. They’ve gone with the onezie, literally shirt plus shorts in one, and a sleeveless jersey (which I think rocked - not a fan of the onezie unless it’s in an aerobics class). The Kings of No Fun (FIFA) didn’t like this and it wound up in court. Talk about killjoys. So Puma has bowed down to the man and gone with classic (read: safe) on the AFCON editions. Personally, I love em. Simple and elegant.

Home

Away

Training.: They’re holding camp at altitude in Kenya. Hooray for smart decision making. This should give them at least a bit of a fitness edge and help out with those late game legs.

The fellas are leaving for camp today, where they’ll set up shop and do the important stuff until the cup commences on the 20th. So only 13 days and change left (countdown here for those who can’t stand not knowing exactly how much time down to the second).

Roster stuffs tomorrow. Thanks for hanging out, and I’m stoked to be on board here with Cameroon.