SAITAMA, Japan – Badly needing to win against Saudi Arabia in its second Group E match, Cameroon is treating Thursday’s showdown with the Middle Eastern underdogs as if it were the World Cup final.
Pegged as a dangerous dark horse and aiming to become the first African nation to reach the World Cup semifinals, the Indomitable Lions were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw in their opener against Ireland after sagging badly in the second half.
The side now needs to win to keep its chances alive of advancing to the second round as they will be facing four-time champions Germany in their last group match.
« We are taking this match as a final, » said Extremadura defender Raymond Kalla. « It’s such an important game. We’re playing Germany afterwards so we need to get a win under our belt now. »
Though they are clear favorites, Cameroon is wary of a possible backlash following Saudi Arabia’s humiliating 8-0 loss to Germany.
« Maybe they know it’s over and they’ll approach the game with their minds free, which could be dangerous for us, » said Sheffield striker Patrick Suffo.
« We need to play carefully and do our job right because technically they are very good even if physically we are the stronger team. They are going to come out fighting and do everything they can to put that loss behind them. »
Saudi Arabia was completely steamrolled by Germany in their first group game last Saturday, suffering the third-worst loss in World Cup finals history.
The loss by Saudi Arabia — which qualified for the last two World Cup finals and even reached the second round in 1994 — rocked the country, with one shocked Saudi declaring the team’s defeat was like receiving « eight bullets in the head. »
Saudi Arabia will be without its captain and star striker Sami Al Jaber, who injured his right knee in a collision with Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann during the team’s match against Germany.
The Saudis might also be without Abdullah Alwaked Al Shahrani, who injured his ankle.
« We need to put the same pressure on the Saudis that the Germans did right from the start, » said Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer said. « We need to attack very early and focus on finishing our plays.
« We need to go in the box and create a lot of chances. We have to go a lot more toward to goalkeeper. Shooting is very important in this case. Yesterday, today and tomorrow we will focus our actions on finishing in front of the goal. »
The Saudis, who are now 5,000-1 outsiders for the tournament, have vowed to make up for their mortifying loss.
« We promise our fans in Saudi Arabia and in the Arab world to do better in the next two matches, » said coach Nasser Al Johar.
« It was a disastrous result…But we have two more matches to play and we can still qualify, » he added optimistically.
The Saudis have shown they can be tricky. They beat Uruguay and Senegal and narrowly lost to Brazil and Denmark in pre-final friendlies.
Schaefer blamed fatigue, jetlag and the team’s 60-hour obstacle-filled trip to Japan for Cameroon’s sluggish opening match against Ireland, adding things would be different now that the team has recovered.
Cameroon, which beat Argentina on way to reaching the quarterfinals in 1990, has struggled at the World Cup since, crashing out of the opening round in its last two appearances in the 1994 and 1998.
In 1998, the African side had a disappointing opening match similar to the one against Ireland, losing its opener to supposed-minnows Austria before crashing out.
Germany leads the Group E standings with three points, while Ireland and Cameroon are tied second with one point each. Saudi Arabia are at the bottom with 0
