Ndanga Paul, assistant coach of the Indomitable Lions gives an appraisal of the encounter between Cameroon and Sudan.
What is your apprecxiation of the encounter of against Sudan ?
It was a good match. We had not known about the Sudanese team. We finally found out that the team came out here well prepared to face our national team. Unfortunately, we could not go through. We had a lot of short comings especilly in the attack mechinery. We could not concretise the scoring opportunities. This means we have to work harder. Though we came out with a draw, it was a total humiliation. But I think a draw was better than a defeat.
What really went wrong with the Lions?
I think there was an underestimation of the match which came out to be tough. The Sudanese had a good defense system. Though they were smaller in size, they had a good ball control and that is what was lacking with us. Infact, we need to work more.
Cameroon now occupies an uncomfortable third position. What strategies are you going to take to ensure that they rise up in the competition?
I hope the head coach and the powers that be would organise more test matches. We should go out for new players because the technical skills of the present squad is reducing. We have to do something now.
Some key players were absent in the encounter. Does it mean that their absence hampered the succees of the Lions?
The absence of Eto’o Fils and Ndefi especially was a set back to our efforts. I remember in Egypt, the substitution of Tum with Eto’o and Mbami with Makoun, gave us a good start in the match but this time the absence of those players have cost us a lot.
How do you evaluate the chances of Cameroon in this competition?
You realise that in football, each match is unique. But we have no right to loose any match at home. We still have two matches to play out, that against Benin and that against Côte d’Ivoire. We also have three matches to play at home. We have no reason to lose any of the matches any more. All we have to do is to multiply the number of test matches. If possible to see how many players can still get on because you find a small boy like Douala who came in. He did extremely well but infact he needs more time to get used to the team.
E.M, CT
