Cape Town — The exit of Cameroon's Indomitable Lions from the World Cup without a single point is one that the players and their supporters will want to forget quickly.
It is thus legitimate to ask why a team so full of talented players, one which prior to the competition carried the hopes of millions of Cameroonians and Africans from elsewhere on the continent, should have performed so poorly in a group they were widely expected to sail through.
The Players
The players selected for this tournament, though each of them was good in his own right, were widely considered young and inexperienced for a tournament of this magnitude.
Although fielding new players for the purpose of building a future squad is always encouraging, playing too many fresh men in one game can spell disaster.
Ghana fielded a similarly young and inexperienced squad. But they used the same squad during the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January. Having played together for a while, they clearly developed some level of mutual understanding both on and off the field. As a result they were able to play fluid and coherent football, saving Africa from embarrassment by making it through the preliminaries.
Many question not only Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen's decision to field inexperienced players, they also question the inconsistency of his starting line-ups, thus making life on the pitch difficult for the players. Most of the players made clear to reporters at the end of their last match, against the Netherlands, that they believed this is the main reason for the team's under-performance.
A bitter Mohammadou Idrissou said that while other teams knew their starting eleven in advance, Cameroon's was always communicated to the players two hours before the game. At times, he added, the players had to play with teammates who had worked on opposite sides in training.
In addition, Idrissou complained, the team had to endure a lecture from the country's sports minister, who visited them and accused them of being in South Africa Africa "for holidays".
The same sentiment was echoed by mid-fielder Achille Emana, who vowed never to take the field for the national side again if Le Guen was not replaced. He said sometimes the coach made changes without giving reasons.
Emana noted that even though the Dutch team had already qualified for the Last 16, no significant changes had been made to their starting line-up, hence they were able to remain consistent. He regretted that the coach tried to field all 23 players in three games.
Also speaking to journalists, mid-fielder Aurélien Chedjou said the match against the Netherlands had been "the worst outing the team has ever made." What made it even worse, he said, was the fact that it was the first World Cup on African soil and would thus be remembered for a long time.
However, Samuel Eto'o took a milder approach. He said it was always easy to look for scapegoats after defeats, but he believed the whole team had to take responsibility.
The Coach
As for Paul Le Guen, he said at the post-match press conference that he accepted full responsibility for his team's demise, especially in the opening game against Japan, when he played Eto'o, his ace attacker, on the wing.
He said his team had improved steadily through the tournament, but accepted that the strategy of blending new and old players had failed to work the way he thought it would.
But he would not be drawn on reports of disunity in the team. Asked why Alex Song was not in the starting line-up, despite his name appearing in the match sheet, he said Song injured his left calf shortly before the game.
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On speculation about his future with the team, Le Guen said his contract ended after the tournament and he would consider what to do. He would not comment on suggestions that he is the front-runner for the position of Australian head coach.
The Future
It is not all gloomy for the team. Supporters can take solace in the fact that these were very young players and showed character throughout the tournament, despite always finding themselves on the losing side.
Their performance showed without a shadow of doubt that if well nurtured, come the 2013 Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, they can restore the glory the team once enjoyed.
