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Welcome to the Official Something Awful TRP Cameroon FIFA World Cup 2022 thread! Fact Sheet Team Nickname: Indomitable Lions Manager: Rigobert Song. Song was a center back that had a bit of a journeyman career, with stops at Metz, Liverpool, West Ham, Koln, Galatasaray and Trazbonspor. Song is Cameroon’s all time leader in caps, and is the uncle of Barcelona legend Alex Song (follow the link below to Youtube to see Alex Song's finest performance) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNKK4WLJqWY Notable World Cup Appearances: 1982 - Cameroon’s first WC appearance, they quietly exited after 3 draws in the group stage. 1990 - The Lions were a bit of a Cinderella team at Italia 1990, topping their group after a stunning opening match upset over Argentina. Cameroon got past Romania in the first knockout round, setting up a quarterfinal matchup vs. England. Cameroon led in the 2nd half, but Gary Lineker converted penalties in the 83rd and 105th minutes to see England through to the semifinals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnXZkllk-nk After that - well, it hasn’t been pretty. Cameroon have qualified for the WC in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, and 2014 and have not progressed past the group stage once. They’ve lost their last 7 World Cup matches, stretching back to a group stage match vs. Germany in 2002. Probably their most notable World Cup participation in that time is when they tried to use a sleeveless shirt in the 2002 World Cup, but FIFA intervened and made them add sleeves.  Notable Past Players: This list basically begins and ends with Samuel Eto’o - Easily the greatest player in Cameroon history, and many consider him to be the best African football player of all time. Eto’o came to prominence at Mallorca in the early 2000s, before spending 5 seasons at Barcelona where he was one of the best strikers in the world. Eto’o famously won the treble with Barcalona in 2008-09 and then after the season was transferred to Inter in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He then won the treble with Jose Mourinho’s side in 2009-10, becoming the first player to win back to back trebles. After 3 seasons in Milan he became a journeyman, briefly being the world’s highest paid player at ill fated Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, then bouncing around clubs in England, Italy, Turkey, and finally Qatar. He was real fuckin’ good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IvD1eYj4lA Eto’o is now the president of Cameroon’s football federation and has a big presence with the national side, you’ll probably see him on TV during their group stage matches. The Kits There’s actually some controversy here, as Cameroon broke their contract with their previous provider Le Coq Sportif to sign with All One Sports (yeah, I don’t know who they are either). Le Coq sued for breach of contract and a judge ruled in the company’s favor last week, so there might be a chance that Cameroon will have to switch to their kits before the WC kicks off? In any event, here are the All One Sports kits they are intending to wear, they’re pretty meh, in this poster’s opinion.  The Squad https://twitter.com/LIndomptables/status/1590446431575638016 Forwards Vincent Aboubakar (currently at Saudi club Al Nassr, previous spells at Porto and Besitkas) leads the line as their center forward, and was the leading scorer at the 2021 AFCON (which was played in early 2022). Bayern forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is also a focal point in attack. Cameroon may play with one of Aboubakar or Choupo-Mouting flanked by Dynamo Moscow’s Moumi Ngamaleu and Lyon’s Karl Ekambi providing service as wingers, or occasionally play Choupo-Mouting behind Aboubakar. Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo declared for Cameroon 2 months ago and is included in the squad, and is a bit of a wild card option. Midfielders Napoli standout Andre-Frank Anguissa is their main man in midfield. Anguissa has been one of Serie A’s best midfielders over the past 2 seasons. Other midfielders that will likely see time are Piere Kunde of Olympiacos, Hellas Verona’s Martin Hongla, K.V. Mechelen’s Samuel Gouet, and Olivier Ntcham of Swansea. Defenders The back line is considered to be Cameroon’s greatest weakness, and I mean hell, there are 2 MLS defenders included in the squad. They are anchored by longtime Torino defender (currently at Aris Thessaloniki) Nicolas N’Koulou at CB, and Collins Fai of Saudi club Al-Tai is their RB that is featured prominently in their attacking play. Nouhou Tolo of Seattle Sounders and Udinese reserve Enzo Ebosse have seen time at left back in Cameroon’s WC qualifier run. Keepers They’ve got a good one in Inter Milan’s Andre Onana. Onana had been Ajax’s keeper, and is unfortunately most well known for a doping ban after accidentally taking a banned diuretic pill his wife had been prescribed. He moved to Inter this past summer and has recently supplanted their longtime keeper Handanovic, and Onana’s great shot stopping ability has been on display since. Recent History It’s been strong by their standards, with some disappointment mixed in. Cameroon had positive vibes going into the most recent AFCON as the tourney’s hosts. They topped their group with a strong showing, then saw off Comoros and Gambia to set up a semi-final showdown with Egypt. It came down to penalties after AET ended at 0-0, where Cameroon proceeded to have one of the worst penalty shootout performances you’ll ever see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXF4q5gLzBQ Cameroon also had a good World Cup qualifiers performance, topping their group with 5 wins and 1 loss. The 10 group winners were then drawn against other group winners in a two leg playoff, with the 5 winning teams qualifying for the World Cup, where Cameroon drew Algeria. Algeria won the first leg 1-0 , in the 2nd leg Cameroon were leading 1-0 at the end of normal time, sending it to extra time. Algeria scored in the 118th minute, leading them to think that they were on their way to the WC, but Cameroon provided a dagger in the 124th minute to send them through via away goals. (gently caress you FIFA, let me embed this video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFMsEX7060 The Schedule November 24: Switzerland vs Cameroon – Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah November 28: Cameroon vs Serbia – Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah December 2: Cameroon vs Brazil – Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail So, how are they going to perform? Let’s be honest, it will be a shock to see them get out of the groups. Brazil are considered by many to be the strongest team in the entire field, and Switzerland and Serbia both feature strong squads of players performing well in top European leagues. Cameroon do have talented attacking players, a top class shot stopper at the back, and a strong midfield anchor in Anguissa, so who knows, they might be able to pull off a surprise against the Swiss or Serbs. I want to believe. #LETSROARTOGETHER
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Nov 12, 2022 20:11
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| # ? May 3, 2024 17:58 |
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Big fan of Wooh, whoever he is
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Nov 13, 2022 09:18
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I'm surprised Michael Ngadeu (defender who plays for KAA Gent in the Belgian league) didn't get selected. He has ~50 caps already, was in the team that got third place in the AFCON earlier this year. His agent claims that it's actually Eto'o who's pulling the strings and selecting the team etc. and that's why Ngadeu got left out. On the other hand, he now gets 5-7 weeks vacation, and the risk of picking up an injury in the tournament is gone too. So it's not all bad if you're a KAA Gent supporter (but most of it is ofcourse).
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Nov 13, 2022 11:32
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drat you weren't kidding about those penalties
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Nov 13, 2022 12:09
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Look forward to hearing commentators attempt the third-choice keeper’s name
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Nov 13, 2022 14:47
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trem_two posted:
shameful roger milla erasure.
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Nov 14, 2022 11:56
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HappyCamperGL posted:shameful roger milla erasure. I don't know of any bangers called "Eto'o" https://youtu.be/w3bK7Nw4vOs
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Nov 15, 2022 01:49
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| # ? May 3, 2024 17:58 |
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Blahmehroon.
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Dec 6, 2022 23:48
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