Brys vows to soldier on as Cameroon football circus continues
Marc Brys, the on-and-off Cameroon national team coach, has vowed to soldier on as the circus in the country’s football continues. In the latest part of the comical but sad show, the Indomitable Lions woke up to find that they had no training equipment.
“We don’t have balls, we don’t have equipment, we have no equipment,” lamented the Belgian coach.
Brys met with his star-studded team on Monday morning while officials from the Ministry of Sport scurried to try and get balls and other training equipment. A dejected messenger was seen entering the Hilton Hotel with a black plastic full of equally deflated soccer balls that looked good enough for the dusty grounds of a social league.
“This isn’t going well. It has been like this for two days now. I have been in this profession for 26 years, I’ve never seen this,” a bemused Brys explained.
On Sunday night Marc Brys’ team did have balls. They had training equipment too. The bus carrying this training equipment was driven away from the hotel by FECAFOOT staff. It was in retaliation to being told that they were not allowed to stay at the Hilton Hotel. Samuel Eto’o and his FECAFOOT executive have since put out a statement saying the association denounces Marc Brys’ unilateral changing of technical staff. Brys, however, remains vigilant.
“We must, for the public, the inhabitants, the 30 million Cameroonians, prove that even if there are people who want to disturb us, we will fight for the country,” Brys declared.
Brys appears to be a willing pawn in the chess game between the government and Samuel Eto’oo. Most coaches would have returned home by now. Public sentiment, for its part, remains divided. Some believe Eto’oo is feeding his ego and should be doing the government’s bidding. Those on the football legend’s side say the government is meddling in football matters and wants to spoil what Eto’oo has been fixing ever since he took office.
As usual, when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers. The players of the Cameroon national team will now go into battle with Cape Verde and Angola on the back of disruptive preparations. How will the Indomitable Lions roar without balls?
