First of all an apology to all the readers of this weekly column but my recent illness has made it impossible for me to write it in the past month. I am now back to better health and ready to keep everyone informed on Cameroonian footballers across the globe. With the end of most European club seasons in May there is now transfer activity going on and many Cameroonians have been involved. Plus there is still summer league football taking place and Intertoto Cup action began with Ahmadou Rabihou playing a starring role.
Transfer Activity
The recent big news on the transfer front involving Cameroonian players was Pierre Wome signing a one year contract with Italian giants Inter Milan. Six months ago Wome was out of football after being let go by Espanyol. Since that time, he signed a six month contract with Brescia, played his way back onto the Indomitable Lions and now moved to Champions League contender Inter Milan. A lesson to all that hard work and perseverance can pay off. These are the other player transfers which have taken place recently:
Albert Meyong Ze has left Portuguese Cup winners Vitoria Setubal and signed with Belenenses, who finished one spot ahead of Vitoria Setubal in the Portuguese SuperLiga. Meyong was Vitoria Setubal’s Cup winning hero as he scored the game winning goal as they upset Benfica in the Portuguese Cup Final.
Union Douala’s attacker Antoine Brice Ateba has used his impressive play in Artur Jorge’s Indomitable Lions training camp as a springboard to Portugal as he just signed with Maritimo in that country’s SuperLiga.
Centerback Stephane Andrey Bikey will join Russian champions Lokomotiv Moscow from Shinnik Yaroslavl so he too should receive Champions League experience. Great jump for a player who, like Wome, was without a club 6 months ago.
Another player who has been without a club is young midfielder Guy Stephan Essame who joins William Andem and Georges Nnomo Ambassa at Boavista in Portugal. Essame previously was with Sporting Luqueno in Paraguay.
Defensive midfielder Clement Beaud has also been clubless recently but he just signed with Moreirense who were just relegated from Portugal’s SuperLiga.
Patrice Mbock, a right back/centerback with Bayern Munich’s reserve team has signed with SV Pasching in Austria’s Bundesliga.
Another Cameroonian defensive prospect, central defender Marc Gouiffe a Goufan has left Wolfsburg’s reserve team for SC Paderborn, newly promoted to Germany’s Bundesliga 2.
Goalkeeper Pierre Ebede has left Chalkidona for Greek giants Panathinaikos (3 year contract) where he should be able to receive Champions League playing experience.
In France three central defenders were on the move in Ligue 2. Ex Indomitable Lion Pierre Njanka left Sedan for newly relegated Istres. Former espoirs defender Alexis Ngambi signed with Montpellier from Gueugnon and Bertin Tokene left Grenoble for Brest.
In Switzerland, young forward Achille Njanke left FC Meyrin of Switzerland’s Challenge League (2nd division), where he was one of the league’s top scorers, for fellow Challenge League club FC Baulmes. Central defender Jean Francois Bell, whose transfer to Germany’s Arminia Bielelfeld fell through last winte, left Bellinzona of Switzerland for FC Vaduz, a club in Liechtenstein which competes in Switzerland’s Challenge League. Finally forward Patrick Bengondo, who has been without a club for over a year, signed with Wintertur, another Swiss Challenge League club.
Intertoto Cup
Another young Cameroonian forward also saw Intertoto Cup action. Serge N’gal started at forward for Finland’s Inter Turku as they had a scoreless draw with Iceland’s IA Akranes in the first leg. In the return match, N’gal again started as Inter Turku won handily 4-0.
This weekend the 2nd round of the Intertoto Cup will begin with Rabihou’s Sturm Graz playing Wolfsburg of Germany, N’gal’s Inter Turku going up against NK Varteks of Croatia and Benoit Assou Ekotto’s Lens of France joining the action by playing Lech Poznan of Poland. Stay tuned next week for more Intertoto Cup results.
Russia
Latvia
Aaron Nguimbat started at centerback this past week for Skonto Riga as his club drew 1-1 with Metallurgs Liepaja. Previously Nguimbat also started at central defense in Skonto’s 2-2 tie against FK Ventspils. Entering as a 75th minute sub for Skonto in that game was forward Claude Parfait Ngon.
Sweden
Left back Joseph Elanga started for Malmo as they defeated Hacken 2-1 last week. Previously Elanga started again at left back as Malmo were upset 3-1 by IF Elfsborg.
Norway
Midfielder Somen a Tchoyi did not play this past week but started the week before as his club Odd Grenland lost 2-1 to Ham Kam.
Finland
Serge N’gal started at forward and set up both of Inter Turku’s goals in their 2-0 victory over TPS.
Uruguay
In Uruguay the season is coming to a close and Plaza Colonia are 3 points off the bottom of the table. Last week they lost 6-1 to Rocha. The player known in Uruguay as Mustafa is the central defender known in Cameroon by his given name of Abdul Njankou. Against Rocha, Njankou started at centerback for Plaza Colonia. Also starting was midfielder Alain Yombi and entering as a sub was forward Antoine Helha. The previous week Njankou started at centerback and Yombi at right back as Plaza Colonia drew 0-0 with Wanderers.
United States
In the United States, Alain Nkong started at withdrawn forward and played 71 minutes as his club Colorado Rapids were beaten 1-0 by San Jose Earthquakes. Earlier in the week Nkong played in the unaccustomed position to him of right side midfield as Colorado were beaten 3-1 by FC Dallas.
