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19.06.2005
Cameroon must qualify, urges old boy Mboma
by FIFAworldcup.com
Barely a month ago, one of the greatest standard bearers of Cameroonian football called time on his extraordinary career. At 34, the ruthless but endearing striker Patrick Mboma decided the moment had come to hang up his boots, leaving behind him nothing but good memories of a football odyssey that took him from Paris to Osaka, stopping off at Chateauroux, Metz, Parma and Cagliari on the way.
The Indomitable Lions still remain close to his heart, of course, and the man FIFAworldcup.com is proud to show in action at the top of every page took time out to talk about Cameroon`s turbulent qualification campaign which continues with a Group 3 home game against Libya on 19 June.
FIFAworldcup.com: Do you think Cameroon will qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™?
Patrick Mboma: How could I doubt it? Everything will come down to these matches in June, but Cameroon have what it takes to win the rest of their qualifiers, I`m sure. When I see how our country is always capable of producing good players, and how some of them explode on to the scene almost immediately, I tell myself that not only will we qualify, we can achieve something special in 2006.
If the Indomitable Lions do fail to qualify, what will the future hold for the team?
They`d have to focus on the African Cup of Nations in 2006 and then turn their minds to 2008. And they`d have to take the time to rebuild so we never experience that same failure again. But despite the difficulty they`re in at the moment, I just can`t imagine that happening. The essential thing is to reinforce this idea of being `Indomitable Lions`, so that we only lose to teams who are better than us. At the moment, I`m not sure that`s what`s happening.
It has been noticeable for a few years now that Cameroon`s youth teams are going through a difficult patch. How do you explain that?
The senior team is competitive because our players pick up experience at their clubs. For the youngsters, though, the infrastructure they need is unfortunately almost non-existent. Now and again we can cause an upset, but as long as we can`t offer young players the proper framework, we won`t be competitive. There`s no point thinking the youngsters are going to start winning tournaments if nothing is done at an organisational level.
Does that perhaps apply to the continent as a whole? Since Ghana won the FIFA U-17 World Championship in 1995, no African youth side has lifted a trophy on the global stage.
Yes it does, because the big footballing nations have had training programmes in place for a number of years. That simply isn`t the case for us in Africa and that`s why we risk going a whole lot longer before another team wins a World Youth or U-17 Championship.
How did you feel when it was announced that South Africa would stage the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
As an African I was pleased. It`s such a huge event that everything will be put in place to ensure the South Africans treat us to a World Cup at least as good as any that have gone before.
What do you think is holding African teams back from progressing further than the quarter-finals in a FIFA World Cup?
A little luck to start with, but also someone to set an example for others to follow. Nigeria did that for a long time without getting past the second round in `94 and `98. As outsiders, Cameroon and Senegal got to the quarter-finals in 1990 and 2002. You have to remember as well that Africa only sends five representatives to the World Cup. Statistically, we`re bound to have less of a chance than Europe, for example, especially since we usually arrive at the World Cup with only two really competitive teams as opposed to five. But we still have to keep believing. And that`s why Cameroon have to qualify!
Finally, what do make of Côte d`Ivoire, one of the form teams in Africa at the moment and top of Cameroon`s group?
They`re a good team with some excellent individuals. But, for me, their key men mostly play up front. Without wanting to show any disrespect to players like Kolo Toure, they’re a team that doesn`t look very balanced. They`re not unbeatable, and we managed to get the better of them in Yaounde in July last year (Cameroon won 2-0). The Ivorian side is brimming with very good players but I don`t see us as inferior to them. Maybe that`s because I`m Cameroonian (laughs).
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| Hits: 1 | Source:FIFA.COM | |
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