Both sides pulled a one all draw which sounds like defeat to the Indomitable Lions.
There was no respite for the Lions after their victory for honour against the Democratic Republic of Congo on the 6th and last playing day of the 2012 African cup of Nations. The Lions left Kinshasa for Malabo via Douala where they yesterday played a one all draw against the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon opened scores through Kwekeu Leonard who is gradually imprinting his mark at the national before Equatorial Guinea equalised a few minutes to the end of the first half.
The match is the first since the ouster of Cameroon from the 2012 AFCON and serves as preparation for the 2012 African Cup of Nations for Equatorial Guinea which is co hosting the event and preparation for the 2013 AFCON and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. For this reason, the technical bench of the Indomitable Lions used the match to test the ability of those who have not been playing regularly. As such, players like Samuel Eto’o did not make the journey to Malabo to the disappointment of his fans there and regulars like Carlos Kameni were left on the bench while new comers like Efala Konguep, Sally Edgar, Abouna Ndzana and Henri Bedimo were on the starting block. The encounter is the first in a series of four friendly matches to be played by the Lions by November destined to serve as warm up for the upcoming qualifiers for the 2013 African Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the Indomitable Lions risk being done without the present technical staff with persistent rumours about a possible change at the technical bench of the Indomitable Lions. After rumours about moves to hire disgraced French coach, Raymond Domenech, fresh rumours say the indefatigable coach of Coton Sport, Denis Lavagne and the coach of the national under 20 squad, Martin Ndtoungou Mpile are tipped as favourites to replace Javier Clemente and Omam Biyick as coach and vice respectively for the senior national team.
The ouster of heavy weights in African football like defending champions and five times winner, Egypt, four times winner, Cameroon, two times winner Nigeria and South Africa from the 2012 African Cup is said to have depleted the value of the event in terms of marketing and public interest. It however, depicts progress made by other countries before now considered as Lilliputians such as Botswana and Niger who are in their first ever participation at the final round of an African Cup of Nations. The ouster of the heavy weight consequently places Cote d’Ivoire in pole position among the favourites to lift the trophy in the tournament to take place from January 21 to February 12, 2012. The other qualified countries include co hosts, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Ghana, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Libya, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Sudan.
