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My ambition is to score more goals to win the trophy - Patrick Mboma (02.02.2004)
Interviewed by Jean Jacques Mouandjo and Martin Etonge in Sousse
Two days before the game against Egypt, Cameroon’s hitman Patrick Mboma talks about his aims in the competition and many more issues
How did you live the controversy that surrounded you return to the national team?
It was really difficult for me. But |I managed to sit back and push myself to first of all accept the fact that I have not been called up and to be at the sidelines of national football for sometime.
I had the pleasant surprised of being returned to the national side and that enabled me to forget the all the difficulties times I had faced. Many asked questions and wanted me to say something negative about my situation, but I did not want to do so. My decision was good as I was later asked to join the team. I do enjoy the present times.
In only two games in the Nations Cup you have scored four goals. What is your ambition?
My ambition is to continue to score goals to win matches, especially this competition. The first objective before this competition was to take the trophy to Cameroon for the fifth time. If as a follow up I can ice the cake by finishing top scorer, then I will be very happy. However, that is not my priority.
You are three goals away from the record 14 goals scored by Ivorian Laurent Pokou in the Nations Cup finals. Do you aim at equaling or even beating this record?
I will try to aim at both objectives. If win can win the trophy and I score three or four more goals, I will be the happiest man on earth. I can’t hide the fact that that record interests me. But I am not going to suddenly become an egoistic striker who takes care only of his own interest. My ambition should not come before the expectations of millions of Cameroon who are waiting for the trophy, and not a personal record.
You are in real great form. What motivates you?
I wear a green, red and yellow uniform. That is the biggest support I carry in me, and with great honour. I am may be more motivated when I wear these colours, than that of a club. I have equally had the luck of making an imprint by scoring goals. Today, it is just the continuity of what I have always done since I join the team several years ago.
How is the ambiance within the players of the national team like?
It is good. It is as good as when we used to go right to the end of a competition. There have been many rumours, but the only problem has been the theft of money and items of some players in their rooms. But that is not a group
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problem.
We drew the first game, but won the second. That shows progress. We conceded goals. We shall try not to concede more. We scored goals. We shall try to score many more. This will not be easy since every body (all teams) have that ambition. The ambiance is good. Our quality, confidence and group cohesion, added to that makes me very confident of the future.
You sound very determined. Is this determination present in the other players?
Yes. It is true that in the beginning I had the impression that only part of the team believed in final victory. But today, I am pleased that every body has the objective of winning the trophy.
Every body believes in our potential. That is very important, because it is the players who have to be sure first about our chances.
You have a game against Egypt next Tuesday. How do you preview that game?
The fact that we have to win that game does not put extra pressure on us. Winning the game simply takes us to the top of the group, what has always been the ambition of Cameroon. How can we be leading the group and people put doubts in our minds? I don’t think there is any thing to worry about, just like with the next stages of the competition.
We may not be sure of going right through to the finals, but worries will not stop the eventual pains of a premature exit. We are going to play normally and make sure that we progress gradually until our worries end on 14 February with the final victory.
If Cameroon go into the second round, will you prefer a particular opponent?
I don’t think about opponents. The important thing for me is to win. The more it is difficult, the more meritorious it will be to go right to the end. From the way things are shaping up, we may play against Nigeria in the quarter finals. That is their trouble.
What next for Patrick after the Nations Cup?
I was elected African Player of the Year in 2000. Paradoxically, from that moment people started talking about my retirement. I know that evidently, the more I play, the nearer I get to retirement. But this competition (Nations Cup finals in Tunisia) is very important to me that it is by winning it that I can chase away the disappointment of the 2002 World Cup finals, which was the greatest disappointment in my life.
Today I am totally focused only on the Nations Cup. I only think of playing. I have pleasure in playing. You can’t create pleasure and refuse to enjoy it. All what I can say for sure is that I will not play the 2010 World Cup, but I can say how my future will be.
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