malvernmugadzikwa
REGARDLESS of which Cameroon team will turn up for the match against Zimbabwe in Uganda, Tuesday’s match might turn out to be an acid test for the new Warriors coach, Michael Nees.
To say Cameroon’s preparations have been wretched is an understatement.
The Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) and the West African country’s Ministry of Sports have been engaged in a nasty and messy pig fight.
So brutal and abrasive has been the engagement that Fecafoot (what an acronym), which is led by the highly temperamental and egotistic Samuel Eto’o, momentarily assigned the U-20 team to play against Namibia last week, before the potentially calamitous decision was reversed at the last minute.
Apparently, Eto’o, who Bra Shakes believes is not only part of the problem, but the problem, was hell-bent on replacing current head coach Marc Brys with Ndtoungou Mpile before yesterday’s game with Namibia.
He does not fancy the 61-year-old Belgian gaffer, who was appointed in April by the country’s Sports minister, Narcisse Kombi, as he was not consulted about the recruitment.
Only recently, coach and legendary former player Rigobert Song, who was so iconic that Congolese artistes could not stop chanting his name in their songs, left the same post unceremoniously after a largely ineffectual two-year spell.
At the recent AFCON tournament in Cote d’Ivoire, the team, which was then under Song, were unfortunately not on song.
They finished second in their group after securing four points from three matches behind Senegal, before they were humbled and knocked out by rivals Nigeria following a 0-2 defeat.
It will be naïve, however, to judge them based on their game against Namibia in Douala yesterday, for their opponents, coming from a country that has a modest population of 2,5 million, cannot exactly be considered as a competitive football nation.
Do not get Bra Shakes wrong, Namibia are far from minnows — if that word still exists in the football vocabulary anymore.
They seem to have had an encouraging start to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, with two wins in their matches against Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe thus far.
So, they are no pushovers.
But either way, Nees should get nothing short of a result.
After all the commotion, turmoil and kerfuffle in their camp, Cameroon cannot possibly be expected to muster the morale and mental stamina to win a football
match with a competitive side such as the Warriors.
So, this is why Nees has and should win.
Losing against a Cameroon that is in disarray will seriously undermine his pedigree and devalue his estimation in the eyes of expectant fans, as well as open him up to vicious attacks from quarters that have already made their lack of belief in him known.
By now, he should be familiar with his squad.
The team has also had time to acclimatise to the conditions in Uganda, as opposed to their opponents, who will have to fly more than 2 300 kilometres from Cameroon.
To his credit, the team acquitted itself well in Friday’s encounter against the Harambee Stars.
They were bold and adventurous.
The way Nees set up his team, with Khama Billiat, Walter Musona, Prince Dube and Tawanda Chirewa in the starting line-up, showed someone who wanted to win.
Even when the formula was not working, he was bold enough to withdraw Chirewa and Musona, which shows intention and initiative.
So, to be fair, be made a good first impression, but, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The Tuesday match will be both instructive and telling.
Until next time.
Peace!
Yours Sincerely,
Bra Shakes.
Online Reporter