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16.11.2004
Football : Continental Dream Dashed Again
Cotonsport, the club that could offer Cameroon a continental trophy this season, was last Sunday bundled out of the race for the CAF Cup.
Four Cameroonian football clubs were involved in continental competitions at the start of the season. They are: Canon of Yaounde, Cotonsport of Garoua, PWD of Bamenda and Sable of Batie. From the performances of the teams, one might be tempted to say that they have been infected by the virus of mediocrity that has gripped the Indomitable Lions of recent. The Confederation Cup, the new competition that replaced the Africa Winner`s Cup and the CAF Cup, started off in April with Sable of Batie and PWD of Bamenda. The two clubs succeeded to meander through to the 8th finals. PWD Bamenda however, crashed out of the competition at this stage after one draw and a defeat. The "Sand Sand boys" however strived on and were joined in the pursuit of the Confederation Cup by Cotonsport and Canon ejected from the Champions League.
In effect, Cotonsport Garoua and Canon Yaounde dropped out of the CAF Champions League at the eight finals. Canon was later eliminated from the Confederation Cup race, while Cotonsport and Sable lingered on. The clubs started off badly. The two Cameroonian teams toed Group B’s unofficial classification after day two. Nonetheless, the tide changed from the third playing day as Cotonsport wangled it’s way to the top of Group B, a position it occupied until the last playing day, last Sunday, when Ghanaian side, Hearts of Oak, put an end to the dream of playing the finals. In effect, Cotonsports was the last club that could have brought home a continental trophy this season. The best Sable could do was to settle for the third place in Group B.
Experts have attributed this poor performance of Cameroonian teams at continental competitions to several factors. The non-competitive nature of the new championship format put in place by the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, the lack of financial resources and poor management, are the most glaring. Most clubs in Cameroon are not financially viable. This has a direct bearing on the quality of players who they recruit and by implication, their performance. PWD Bamenda, for example, started its continental jamboree with only 14 players. Club officials say there was no money to hire more players. Added to this is the fact that some of the star players of the Bamenda-based team abandoned the club prior to the competition for greener pastures. PWD’s poor outing was therefore predictable. Financial crisis is also responsible for the late arrival of most Cameroonian clubs for their away matches. This usually gives little time for the players, exhausted from travelling, to recover. The most glaring example this season occurred when PWD Bamenda arrived in Dakar, six hours to the start of their match against AS Douanes.
Canon Yaounde, on the other hand, is a good example of a club that has been rocked by managerial crisis. The leadership tussle at the helm of the club dampens the moral of the players. The poor performances of the "almighty" Canon football club at continental competition this season, is therefore a simple reflection of the chaos in the club.
Cotonsport of Garoua and Sable of Batie were the two clubs that evolved in apparent serenity. But last Sunday’s defeat of Cotonsport just confirmed the fact that they too are not spared from the present malaise rocking Cameroonian football.
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