The lions had a rather slippery comeback into the competition after missing out on the last edition of the world cup and there was no other team than Japan to give them the blues. The Japanese Samurais were one nil winners over the Indomitable lions thanks to a late first half Honda goal that proved to be the match winner.
After a rather bloody report sheet during their friendly games, the lions continued to lick their wounds as they had a false start to the competition. Despite a rather balanced first half between both teams, Cameroon once again proved their defensive frailty when CSKA Moscow striker, Honda cut through the back of Stephane Mbia to receive a cross from his team mate to beat Souleymanou Hamidou for the curtain raiser and lone goal of the game. With a rather revolutionized team that saw head coach Paul Le Guen drop Alex Song and Achille Emana to the bench in favour of Achille Webo and handing Joel Matip his first competitive game with the Indomitable lions, the Japanese were rather defensively organized and gave no room for Samuel Eto’o and Choupo Moting (who equally had his first competitive game with the lions) to perforate their defense line.
Cameroon however got some attacking pedigree in the second half with the introduction of Achille Emana and Idrissou Mohammadou but it was Samuel Eto’o who came out of his shelves, dismissing three defenders before serving Choupo Moting who was unable to drive the ball into the net – but that will be the most impressive action for Eto’o who always found himself out of action. Cameroon pushed throughout the second half and came close to the equalizer five minutes from time but were denied by the wood work after a 45 metre shot from Stephane Mbia. Cameroon must struggle to pick up the pieces on Saturday against Denmark if they hope to keep their hopes alive of progressing to the second round. Cameroon’s head coach Paul Le Guen lamented the lackluster and disorganized nature of his players on the pitch but he will certainly be bitting his fingers for the lack of aggressiveness in his midfield after dropping Alex Song for alleged disciplinary reasons and must start thinking of changing his famous 4-3-3 which is proving to be cumbersome for the players.
Players Ratings
In all, Cameroon lacked creativity in the midfield as a combination of defensive midfielders in the likes of Makoun, Matip and Enoh were more often presence in defensive than offensive work. On the other hand, Choupo moting had an average performance upfront but Achille Webo once again reignited the debate over his position as a starter as he was woeful throughout the evening, failing to make use of his header s as he had demonstrated during friendlies. Samuel Eto’o was equally amongst the disappointments of the nigh as he was left struggling on the right flank without really finding his feet. He could just console himself with 7 uncharacteristic throw – ins and an intelligent pass to Choupo.On the other hand, Emana’s introduction did not bring the much awaited technical revolution in the second half but however created some openings upfront but Idrissou Mohammadou on his part was lost upfront and never imposed his height on the Japanese defenders as Geremi kept delivering the crosses. The former’s introduction brought in more steam of the right flank and delivered some crosses and set pieces that were never really exploited by the strikers.
If the attacking machinery failed to function, the defense had a remarkable performance despite the goal conceded as Assou Ekotto monopolized hostilities on the left while Stephane Mbia proved to be impeccable on the right through as well as Souleymanou who was in Kameni’s gloves. Paul Le Guen must certainly struggle to disillusion himself from his stereotype and archaic system of play if eve he wishes to do Cameroon any good.
