Lions Confident to Reclaim Lost Glory in Angola

Inter Milan striker, Samuel Eto’o Fils, is confident about the chances of Indomitable Lions in the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. The former Barcelona hitman said Cameroon would be much at home when the competition commenced against the best teams across the continent.

He said Cameroon would go all out to reclaim their lost glory in African football.
The Indomitable Lions qualified for their 16th Africa Cup of Nations and their sixth World Cup after dominating Morocco in Fez, making them the all-time leading African team in World Cup participation.

After winning the continental title four times, in 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2002, Cameroon want to be back on top after having gone to the final the last time round before losing to their Egyptian rivals (who at the time were their equals in terms of titles as well. The Pharaohs have since surpassed them).

With one of the most compact teams in Africa and a new coach, who has managed to build up the solidarity and mental strength of the squad, Cameroon are more than ever, one of the favourites to take it all this January in Angola.
Cameroon was in Group 1 during the first round of the joint qualifiers to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa alongside Tanzania, Cape-Verde and Mauritius. The Indomitable Lions managed to come out of that group undefeated, only playing a draw with Tanzania and having two goals scored against them.

If the group was easy, that preparation phase was very tiring for the players and Cameroon’s then Coach, Otto Pfister made the mistake of not wanting to change things so close to the World Cup and went on with the same team that played the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana to the second round of the qualifiers.

So, Cameroon was pooled in Group A with Morocco, Togo and Gabon. Early observers looked at the group as the toughest one, the often nicknamed it the "Group of Death". With other countries having represented Africa in previous World Cups, it was pretty clear how the group would go. Everyone expected Gabon to be the victim and have Cameroon, Morocco and Togo scrap it out for the three spots.

But wrong were we all. Gabon had an amazing start and everyone else’s was catastrophic. The Indomitable Lions started out by losing to Togo and drawing against Morocco. A national tragedy in Gabon postponed the third game of the qualifiers, leaving the Cameroonians with more than enough time to change managers and regroup as a team.
With the arrival of Paul Le Guen and his willingness to change things in the national team, Cameroon went back on the right path, winning their remaining games against Gabon (beating their neighbours twice in four days), Togo and qualifying against Morocco in Fez.

Lions coach, Paul Le Guen, was appointed in July 2009 after a few weeks of interim coaching at the helm of the national team by local legend, Thomas Nkono. He would later on keep Nkono on as the goalkeeper’s trainer and his senior assistant. Le Guen only originally signed for a commando-mission type contract of six months, with the clear mission of qualifying for the first African mundial in South Africa.

Before moving to Africa, Paul Le Guen was one of the symbolic defenders in the French league and a legend for Paris Saint-Germain, where he was a beloved figure during the glory years, winning a UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup in 1996 and playing more than 400 games with the Capitol club.

As a coach, he was quickly successful with Rennes and as the talisman man for Lyon from 2002 to 2005, winning three consecutive titles with the now seven-time champions. That’s when he decided to leave because of internal conflicts and his unwillingness to see his work meddled with, feeling untrusted despite three titles under his belt.
His decision to leave Lyon gave him time to rest for a year before taking on Glasgow Rangers, a team where he never managed to get through to his players.

The Sun News Online