A stitch in time saves nine, says an adage. Cameroon will have to face the music for failing to heed to this lesson. Now Cameroon will have to spend more cushioning the effects of the cancellation of the friendly match with Algeria than they would have given the players as bonuses and earn money playing the friendly against Algeria. With the Algerian football federation threatening to sue Cameroon at world football governing body to seek compensation, the consequences for Cameroon range from a blot on the country’s escutcheon as a credible sparring partner to the threat of suspension from all FIFA competitions hanging over the country now like the sword of Damocles, passing through untold financial, sporting and administrative ramifications.
On the financial aspect, Cameroon have to refund the Algerian federation money spent on organisation the match, such as the transportation of players from their different clubs to Algiers, television rights and gates fees which had all been sold already. This is running to hundreds of millions given that many TV stations had bought the rights to broadcast the match and the match was going to be played behind closed gates given that all the tickets for the 80.000 seat stadium where the match was supposed to take place had been sold or bought already. Meanwhile, the bonuses the players were asking for amounted to a meagre sum of FCFA 22 million. Though the Minister augmented the amount to FCFA 25 million, the money like Edward Hyde Hewett arrived too late to salvage the situation. More so, the Algerian football federation promised paying 30.000 dollars, that is, FCFA18 million to the Cameroonian players upon touch down in Algeria.
Of all the possible outcomes, the judicial consequence is the worst for Cameroon, for failure to pay the financial compensation may lead the president of the Algerian football federation, Mohamed Raouraoua, to put his threat to action, by suing Cameroon at the FIFA court which will expose Cameroon to suspension from all Fifa competitions.
All these will have an impact on Cameroon’s reputation as a big football country and as a reliable and credible sparring partner given that this is the 5th friendly match offer in a row that Cameroon is turning down. Before Algeria, there was China, Gabon, Salvador and Mexico. This might complicate the job for Alexandre Ribeiro each time he goes seeking for a sparring partner for the Indomitable Lions.
On the purely sporting side, the circumstances surrounding the annulment, risk to break the reconstruction dynamism ushered by the victory in the LG Africa Cup. It recalls the sad memories of the 2010 World Cup when in fighting and bad management led to the disgraceful performance of the Indomitable Lions. It also portrays the players as mercantile who put personal interest ahead of national interest and tend to ignore the feelings of Cameroonians. More so, Cameroon has missed out on an opportunity to oil the Lions machinery given that there are few matches in the qualifiers for the 2013 African Cup of Nations and 2014 World Cup and with the beginning of the qualifiers, there will be no room for more friendly matches.
Lastly, the annulment of the match raise the age-old problem of management of the national team and the demon of conflict between Fecafoot and the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education once more raised its ugly head. The incident is going to give way to a wave of criticisms about the management of the squad and deter people from focusing on the main issue, which is that of reconstructing Cameroonian football. It is a lesson we should heed; a stitch in time saves nine.
