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Cameroon/Botswana: Beijing Olympics - Under 23 Lions in Camp
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Fred Vubem
The national Olympic football team went into camp last Friday March 21, in Yaounde in preparation for their match against Botswana next Wednesday, March 26. The match counts for the 6th and last playing day of qualification matches for the Olympic Games to take place in China in August this year. Though the Lions have already qualified for the competition, they are taking the match seriously as team coach Martin Mtoungou Mpile says it is going to serve as a preparatory match for the final round of the competition.
There are no major changes in the 20-man squad short listed by Martin Ntoungou Mpile. The only new comer is Baning Albert who plays for Sedan football club in France. Moukandjo Benjamin and Nicolas Nkoulou have made their comeback to the squad after having had time to settle following their relocation to France. The only absentee is goal fetcher, Christian Bekamenga, probably left out by the coach because he only recently joined his new club in France after enormous difficulties obtaining a visa.
In a chat with the press, the Olympic team coach, Martin Ntoungou Mpile said he didn't make a lot of changes on the squad because he wanted Cameroon to win the match with style and more so, the match is going to serve as preparation for the competition. He said, training was going to be focused on tactics and strategy, given that the players were actively taking part in the various leagues and therefore fit for competition. The coach also revealed that officials of the administrative bench of the national team and Fecafoot were in the process of coming up with a complete training programme for the Lions ahead of the competition. He however said there will be several friendly matches for the squad in the months of June and July.
Quizzed on why the match was moved from their adopted home of Garoua to Yaounde, the coach said players usually had difficulties travelling to and from Garoua in time and at times were punished in their various clubs for returning late. "Yaounde has more transport openings to Europe than Garoua", he said.
The coach said he was open to the idea of having come players from the senior team like Eto'o, Alexandre Song, André Bikey, Landry Nguemo and Stephane Mbia join the squad for the final phase of the competition in August. Cameroon currently tops group C with 11 points after five matches, followed by Morocco and Botswana with 7 points each. Cameroon has so far conceded no defeat, registering 3 victories and 2 draws; they have so far scored 13 goals and conceded 5.
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