Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
The icon of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, Samuel Eto’o Fils has dismissed speculations among soccer fans that their 2-4 defeat suffered at the hands of the Pharaohs of Egypt at the Baba Yara Stadium last Tuesday signifies that the Lions would crash out of the Ghana 2008 tournament earlier than expected at the preliminary stages.
“The Lions were wounded but not so fatal as to rule us out from the competition. We are surely going to win the next matches to qualify to the next stage. I am very serious about this, and you can surely bet on me and the entire team that we will qualify from our group”. These were the words of Samuel Eto’o Fills at a post-match conference at the Stadium minutes after the loss to Egypt .
The Lions who failed to roar in Kumasi despite the massive support they enjoyed from the thousands of soccer fans who filled the stadium went down 0-3 in the first half .
They, however, came back very strongly to redeem one of the goals when the second half was barely five minutes old, as Eto’o connected with a header, raising hopes among the fans that they were on a war path to claw back and conquer the Pharaohs. But it was the Egyptians who became more aggressive upfront with good interposition changes, fast moves on the ball during counter attacks , making it possible for them to add another goal before Eto’o could increase the tally for his side through a spot kick in the latter part of the game.
Having disappointed their fans who rooted for them at the stadium, and in various homes who watched the match via their television sets , and aware of the huge task ahead, especially with Zambia also humiliating Sudan 3-0 in the second match to occupy the top spot of group C, Eto’o, together with their head coach, Otto Pfister, emerged at the Post-match Press conference beaming with confidence to assure their numerous fans that “the competition had just begun and the Lions should not be ruled out as one of the favourites to win the trophy at stake” .
Explaining, Eto’o pointed out that in soccer, defeat of such magnitude occur, but taking the profile of the Indomitable Lions into consideration, “Cameroun can rise to the occasion and qualify to the next stage of the tournament”.
He pointed out that Cameroon did not have sufficient time to prepare adequately for the tournament, hence their humiliating defeat to Egypt in their opening game, but was full of confidence that “ we will surely bounce back in grand style to get to the quarter finals stage of the competition”.
He accepted the fact that Cameroun was deprived of the World cup due to a penalty loss to Egypt, but was quick to add that before then, they went to Cote d’ Iviore to beat them.
“ We have a very good team and we are more determined than ever to go past our next two opponents and qualify, so you should not rule us out completely because of the set back we suffered” .
When Mr Otto Pfister who looked very sober as a result of their defeat took his turn to explain what went wrong with his game plan, he said “ In actual fact, I do not know what went wrong, because this is part of soccer, but we shall make amends”.
Earlier, the Egyptians had told the media that their massive win over Cameroon was an indication that they were in Ghana to defend their trophy and add an historic sixth to their collections.
Two-goal hero Mohammed Zidan, who won the MTN man of the match trophy said they have the team to carry out their determination to defend the trophy to bring honours to themselves and Egypt as a nation.
“We are not in Ghana for mere sight seeing, but to defend the trophy we won two years ago, and we have the team to do the job, so all our opponents should watch out when they meet us”, he said confidently.
With the battle lines drawn in group C, especially with Zambia on the warpath and threatening to qualify from their group, the Lions threatening to roar louder than before to devour their next two opponents, and the Pharaohs in a class of their own, fans in Kumasi would be treated to a good match on Saturday, January, 26 2008, when Cameroun meet Zambia in their first match at the Baba Yara Stadium. The Egypt — Sudan encounter in the second match will also be dicey because the Sudanese would like to make amends in their 0-3 defeat at the hands of Zambia.
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