Cameroon defender Lucien Mettomo has claimed the squad’s haphazard preparations for the World Cup will prove beneficial when the tournament gets underway. « We need this chaos to play our best football, » he declared.
Cameroon arrived at their training camp in Nakatsue three days later than planned after talks over the team’s bonus payments at the World Cup collapsed, delaying their departure from Paris.
When they finally took to the air, the Air Cameroon charter flight from Paris via Addis Abbaba was forced to make a ten-hour stop in Bombay following a dispute over airport and fuel taxes.
Then the plane was forced to land in Bangkok for a further seven hours after the airline forgot to ask permission to cross Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Mettomo, who arrived before the main party after taking a separate flight, rushed to Fukuoka airport to greet the fatigued squad and denied that the ordeal would affect the team’s performance.
« We need this chaos otherwise I’m not sure everything would run smoothly and we wouldn’t be able to play our best football, » said the 25-year-old with a wry grin.
Cameroon face England in a friendly on Saturday before kicking off their World Cup campaign with a clash against the Republic of Ireland on June 1.
