Kevin Clarke explains why he'll be proud to pull on his 1990 Cameroon shirt for the 2010 World Cup...
Lions can match most teams in South Africa
Bonjour mes amis! Bonjour and welcome to the definitive update on the Indomitable Lions progress in World Cup 2010.
I say definitive, but that is probably stretching it a little bit - the appropriate words will more likely be shoddy and sketchy on detail.
Why Cameroon, people ask? The obvious link is that I am a Burnley fan and we have Andre Bikey in our squad, but sadly he hasn't been called up for the World Cup.
There is a deeper link, though, as an 11-year-old I rushed home from school to watch the greatest footballer in the world, El Diego, in the opening game of Italia '90. I was a big fan of Claudio Cannigia too, a man with long hair playing in a time before alice bands who had to restrain his lank blonde locks with whatever was at hand - which seemed to be an elastic band across his forehead.
Instead of watching Argentina run riot I was absolutely thrilled to watch Cameroon spring the biggest surprise I had seen in world football at that point. I still remember the names of the players now: Cyril Makanaky and Ben Massing (the man who clattered Cannigia to such an extent that he removed a boot, and then joyfully waved at the fans after being sent off), Oman Biyik, Mfede, Joseph Antoine Bell, and of course the 68-year-old Roger Milla. Or something like that, he was old anyway...
Athleticism
After that match they were my second team in the tournament and I was gutted when they were due to play England in the quarters. It was a fantastic match, England holding on by the skin of their teeth having been almost run ragged by Cameroon's sheer athleticism.
I remember the commentator saying it had been something like 80 games since England had won a penalty and then us getting two in the same game, the second being won with a storming pass from Gazza which put Gary Lineker through. I also remember Lineker's balls of steel stepping up for the second penner, something he is often not given credit for now that he is a softly, softly, puntastic, cheese-on-toast presenter. But back in the day the man had intestinal fortitude and he showed it clearly in this World Cup.
Reminiscing is all well and good but it ain't what it used to be, and so now we can look at the current Cameroon side.
They are drawn in a tough group with Japan, Denmark and Holland to contend with. If Denmark aren't as good as they were in 1986 and 1992 then Cameroon should have too much for them, and I take them to overwhelm the technical but tiny Japanese and go through from the group in second place.
Cameroon have flattered to deceive since 1990 but they now have a core of players based in Europe with very decent experience. Marshalled by Paul Le Guen, something for all you Scottish fans who will surely have no other links to the tournament, the obvious name for all to focus on is Samuel Eto'o.
Commitment
My 20-month-old son is called Samuel, and when I told the Mrs I would be the official Cameroon representative for
FanZone I asked if we could change his surname for Eto'o just for the month. Sadly she pooh-poohed the suggestion - a golden opportunity missed in my eyes, but hopefully it shows my commitment to the cause.
Anyway, back on track, Eto'o is a superstar and in the top five centre-forwards in world football in my opinion and with him coming off the treble with Inter it is hoped he will have a fine tournament.
They are not a one-man team by any stretch of the imagination, though. Stephane Mbia was linked strongly with Everton and Spurs and will be joined in centre midfield by Jean Makoun, who got to the Champions League semis with Lyon this season.
They have a solid keeper, often the weakness of African teams, in Carlos Kameni and have a number of other names familiar to English fans - Rigobert Song (hoping to be sent off in his fifth successive World Cup), Benoit Assou-Ekotto (go on, see if you can make up a chant which features his full name), Sebastien Bassong and Geremi.
Pride
Looking at their squad the bulk of their players are based in France, Spain and England and they should be a match for most teams.
So all in, that is a pretty good reason for wanting to support Cameroon - and I barely mentioned Roger Milla and his dancing too.
I have the Cameroon shirt from 1990 and I'll be wearing it with pride throughout the tournament - and it will make a nice change talking about them and not Stevie G, JT, WAGS, penalties, Rooney's petulance and Fabio being strict. That alone makes it worthwhile supporting them.
And if you're looking for one other reason to support them, then I can definitely say that James Corden won't be jumping on their bandwagon and will probably not be seen sporting their Lycra shirt, although I admit there may be a danger of him wearing one in another one of his interminable "Ha ha, I'm fat and your an athlete and skinny" skits that he does again and again...
But other than that he won't be anywhere near Cameroon or their players, and anything which reduces the amount of airtime James Corden has can only be a good thing.
C'MON THE LIONS!
