Cameroon coach Winfried Schafer has defended his decision to replace forward Patrick Mboma with Patrick Suffo in the second half of his side’s 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland on Saturday. « He was just the right back up for Samuel Eto’o, » he said.
After a promising first half in which Cameroon took the lead through Mboma, the Irish pegged Cameroon back, and levelled through Matt Holland.
« Eto’o was so strong up front that I did not want to bring him back by throwing in somebody like Pius Ndiefi, » Schafer went on.
Schafer praised Suffo for his good performances during the warm-up games, and admitted that he had been hoping for something similar to what happened in the friendly against Argentina, when Suffo came off the bench to equalise.
« Suffo did well in the games against Argentina and England and he was the appropriate replacement for Mboma in that game. Our problems came from elsewhere. »
The coach is sure that Cameroon’s late arrival in Japan was a prime cause of their sluggish second half.
« The travel disaster affected our training schedule, » he said. « We did not have time to adjust to the climate. We needed about 11 days to acclimatise before the first game. That did not happen. »
