The head coach of the Indomitable Lions may have at last found the reason why his team disappointed fans in the World Cup, nine months after the event. Schafer has said his failure to speak French, the language spoken by the players, may have caused their early exit from the World Cup in Korea and Japan in June 2002.
“In the beginning, it was hard for me and for them. They were not used to being trained by a coach who does not speak French,” Schafer told a symposium in Cairo, organised by Fifa to examine the latest coaching methods applied at the last World Cup.
Though there have been several attempts to diagnose the failure of Cameroon in the World Cup, Schafer had never given any reason.
A meeting in the youth and sports ministry had blamed the disappointment on the fatigue of players, the players’ strike in Paris on the eve of their departure to Japan, the poor transport facilities of CAMAIR, amongst other.
In the symposium in Cairo, Schafer described his experience with the Lions as a success, in spite of the World Cup humiliation. He added: “Courage, respect for themselves, their coach and most of all, for their opponents, were the keys behind the glory of the Indomitable Lions”.
Since the symposium was also focusing on the future of the game on the African continent, Brazil’s former coach, Luis Felipe Scolari said he was sure an African side will reach at least the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup.
Cameroon and Senegal are the only African sides to have reached the quarter-finals, the best result for the continent so far.
‘If you are able to discipline your players, I can guarantee that there will be an African team in the semi-final of the next World Cup”, Scolari, now in charge of Portugal said.
‘They are both skilful and creative. I feel that Brazilian and African players share the same genes. These are the players who can produce results’, he said.
By Martin Etonge in Yaounde
