G'day tribe. It's the second last team of our Ultimate FIFA World Cup guide and today we take a look at Cameroon. 32 teams in 32 days! This is the Ultimate FIFA World Cup review guide. Check what we've done so far below!
Group A - Qatar | Ecuador | Senegal | Netherlands
Group B - United States | England | Iran | Wales
Group C - Mexico | Poland | Argentina | Saudi Arabia
Group D - Australia | Denmark | Tunisia | France
Group E - Spain | Germany | Japan | Costa Rica
Group F - Canada | Croatia | Morocco | Belgium
Group G - Brazil | Serbia |
Group H - Ghana | Portugal | Uruguay | South Korea
Country: Cameroon
Nickname: Indomitable Lions
Last World Cup Appearance: 2014 (Group Stage)
Previous World Cup Appearances: 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014
World Rank: #38
Star Players: André Zambo Anguissa, Bryan Mbeumo, Karl Toko Ekambi, Andre Onana
Cameroon is led by former player Rigobert Song and they'll be coming up against two European teams that have the ability to fly under the radar with a potential deep run in the tournament, and record champions Brazil. In Cameroon's last World Cup in 2014 they also met Brazil in the group stages so they'll feel somewhat hard done by that they've drawn them again.
Since their magical 1990 World Cup run where they made the quarterfinals before a narrow loss to England, Cameroon have failed to qualify for the knockout rounds in the five attempts.
Cameroon qualified for the World Cup in the most wildest of circumstances. After a 1-nil loss at home to Algeria in the first leg of the final found of CAF qualifying, Cameroon where down 2-1 on aggregate following a 118th minute goal to Algeria. In the fourth and final minute of injury time, Lyon forward Toko Ekambi found the net for Cameroon to put them ahead on the away goal rule and qualify for the World Cup in the dying seconds.
Perhaps that's the sort of victory that will spark a magical World Cup for Cameroon?
World Cup Group: Group G - Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
Prediction: Current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation Samuel Eto'o thinks that Cameroon can qualify for the World Cup Final. I admire his confidence, this is a team that recently came off a 2-nil loss to Uzbekistan.
What works for Cameroon is that there's a wealth of European experience in this team. Bayern Munich's Eric Maxim Choup-Moting and Lyon's Karl Toko Ekambi provides great firepower upfront for Cameroon.
A recent addition to the Cameroonian setup is Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo who helped Brentford surge from the Championship to become a solid Premier League team. He previously represented France at youth level as recently as 2020 and is somewhat of a coup for Cameroon.
Napoli box-to-box midfielder André Zambo Anguissa will be the key for how good Cameroon will go. He's an exceptionally strong defender who has a remarkable ability to link up the defense and attack.
Similar to Serbia, Cameroon's attack will be their best form of defence. Star Inter Milan keeper Andre Onana will likely have young Stade Rennais centre-back Christopher Wooh, FC Nantes' Jean-Charles Castelletto or the experienced Nicolas N'Koulou infront of him but there isn't much more obvious talent across the team that could change a game.
It's going to be a case of "what if" for Cameroon, with Joel Matip in the prime of his career but retiring at the age of 24 from the setup because of previous bad experiences with the national team coaching staff.
They'll fall just short in an extremely close race for second place.
Group Stage.
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I really do admire the work Samuel Eto is currently doing, if only other African presidents of football federation can follow his example.
All I can say to the Cameroonians is good luck.
Cheers.
I see this group and I hope they can pick points against Serbia and maybe a draw with Switzerland. But those in itself are tall orders.
There's also Vincent Aboubacar their captain who can change games on his day. But logic says they're not making it out of this group
I'm really hoping African countries will do well in this year's world cup, especially with the form most of the players are bringing up..