Yaounde – Factfile on Cameroon, who are in World Cup Group G:
Best World Cup performance: Quarter-finalists in 1990
Other honours: African champions in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2017
FIFA ranking: 43
Main clubs: Coton Sport, Canon Yaounde
How they qualified: Cameroon defeated Algeria in a play-off
Coach: Rigobert Song, 46, is a Cameroon football legend having performed at four World Cups and helped the Indomitable Lions win the Africa Cup of Nations twice in eight tournament appearances. A centre-back, his club career spanned France, Italy, England, Germany and Turkey, including spells at Liverpool and West Ham United. Called the ‘Big Chief’, he suffered a stroke in 2016 and was in a coma for several days. Cameroon sacked Portuguese Toni Conceicao after a third-place finish as 2021 Cup of Nations hosts and coaching rookie Song masterminded a shock World Cup play-off victory over Algeria. Warm-up losses to Uzbekistan and fellow qualifiers South Korea have dampened spirits, however.
Key player: Bayern Munich’s Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, 33, goes to Qatar in outstanding form having scored in seven consecutive matches for the German giants in all competitions. Born in Hamburg to a Cameroonian father and German mother, he has a point to prove at the World Cup after being largely ignored during the Cup of Nations this year. Choupo-Moting was furious at being left out of the quarter-final and semi-final starting line-ups and accused Conceicao of being “disrespectful”. He began his senior career with Hamburg, played for three other German clubs and spent time at Stoke City and Paris Saint-Germain before joining Bayern two years ago.
Group fixtures
November 24: Switzerland v Cameroon
November 28: Cameroon v Serbia
December 2: Cameroon v Brazil
Possible squad
Goalkeepers: Devis Epassy (Abha/KSA), Simon Ngapandouetnbu (Marseille/FRA), Andre Onana (Inter Milan/ITA)
Defenders: Jean Charles Castelletto (Nantes/FRA), Enzo Ebosse (Udinese/ITA), Collins Fai (Al Tai/KSA), Oliver Mbaizo (Philadelphia Union/USA), Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui (Gent/BEL), Nicolas Nkoulou (Aris/GRE), Nouhou Tolo (Seattle Sounders/USA), Darlin Yongwa (Lorient/FRA)
Midfielders: Arnaud Djoum (Dundee United/SCO), Samuel Gouet (Mechelen/BEL), Martin Hongla (Verona/ITA), Pierre Kunde (Olympiakos/GRE), Georges Mandjeck (Nea Salamis/CYP), Olivier Ntcham (Swansea City/ENG), Jean Onana (Lens/FRA), Gael Ondoua (Hannover/GER), Andre-Franck Zambo-Anguissa (Napoli/ITA)
Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Al Nassr/KSA), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Bayern Munich/GER), Karl Toko Ekambi (Lyon/FRA), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford/ENG), Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (Besiktas/TUR), Jean-Pierre Nsame (Young Boys/SUI)
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@q2022wc
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