Cameroon will have gained slight confidence in their last World Cup warm up game through a disparaging night as they lost to Serbia in a 4-3 thriller. The Indomitable Lions’ previous friendlies have been mired by missed chances, a clear lack of unity and the captain Samuel Eto’o being dismissed, but considering the Inter forward’s absence against the White Eagles, Paul Le Guen’s outfit put in a stellar attacking show.
Le Guen has seemed to galvanise the squad in the wake of the Samuel Eto’o soap opera last week, after the captain’s red card against Portugal and threats of dismissal from the squad, the Cameroonian president Iya Mohammed issued a rallying call of unity. The Lions seemed to have retained focus, competitiveness in the squad’s forwards is seething and the gap left by Eto’o was filled adequately against Serbia. The last week has seen Cameroon pitted against strengthened Portugal and dark horses Serbia, with the match against Carlos Queiroz’s side acting as a stern wakeup call. Swipes against the Lions’ backline showcased a weak Cameroonian defence and it was safe to say that the Africans had their confidence dented. This week the Indomitable Lions faced Serbia and offered a much improved offensive force, but the defence, however, highlighted their weaknesses leaving Le Guen to ponder on how to tighten the back line.
The inclusion of Rigobert Song into the squad was obviously to instil leadership into a young back four, hoping the veteran would lead by example through a wealth of experience but so far in the warm up matches Le Guen’s side have been constantly penetrated much to the frustration of goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. The goals conceded against Serbia resulted in furious gesticulating from the stopper as the Cameroon centre-backs virtually went missing, echoing the disastrous strategy against Portugal, allowing the Serbians to capitalise on shoddy managerial tactics. The Africans took the lead just four minutes in, but the lead lasted just 11 minutes as the Serbians equalised but Cameroon’s response was stoic and the second goal almost identical to the first as Pierre Web
