Barely two weeks after taking over office as coach of the Indomitable Lions, has the erstwhile coach of Coton Sport, Dennis Lavagne won his first trophy with the national selection. The Indomitable Lions beat the Atlas Lions 4-2 in post match penalties after both sides were tied at one goal each way at the end of regular time of play. Cameroon outsmarted Uganda by goal difference as they equally won all their two matches of the tournament like Cameroon. It can therefore be said that the trial strike has been a master’s strike for Dennis Lavagne who was facing a litmus test in the LG Cup tournament.
Above the victory, the LG Cup has revealed that tactical and technical acumen of the Frenchman who was able to lift the trophy despite the forfeiture of many regular players before and during the competition notably in the defence and attack lines. However, the victory left a bitter after taste which is very reminiscent of the Indomitable Lions. A player strike led to the cancellation of the friendly match against Algeria as the players refused to travel to Algers to play for nothing. This raises the eternal issue of payment of bonuses to players of the national team and management of conflict with the squad.
This is the last domain where Dennis Lavagne has to demonstrate his competence. He already started on a good foot by taking the defence of his players by opposing an attempt by Fecafoot to punish some players as scapegoats of the strike action, arguing rightly that it will destroy the group dynamism being put into place. It is rather unfortunate the match against Algeria will not take place as it was going to enable Dennis Lavagne oil the machinery of the Lions especially as there are very few matches in the qualifiers for the 2013 Cup of Nations and 2014 World Cup.
However, for Dennis Lavagne’s efforts to bear fruits there is need to clean up the mess around the Lions through good collaboration between MINSEP and Fecafoot and better administrative management of the national team. If not, we will be putting new wine in an old bottle.
