The player from Marseille in France is the pivot of the central defense of the Lions.
Though Hugo Broos convened seven defenders for the double confrontation against South Africa, there is no doubt that the central defense will be assured by Nicolas Nkoulou. The question now is who is going to combine with the Olympique Marseille player especially at the right back where Cameroon has been found wanting in the past. He has had to combine well with Aurelien Chedjou in the past but with the presence of Sebastien Bassong in the squad this time around, it is very likely that he will be the one to play with Nkoulou. More so he has been regular with his English club side Norwich but didn’t play the last two games with the club because of a minute injury.
On the left wing will be Henri Bedimo who has always played this role with success. More so the player from Lyon-France has the advantage that he is an offensive defender. With the forfeiture of Oyongo Bitolo, there is no doubt that Bedimo will be the one to count on the left wing. However, the coach has a panoply of defenders to rely on in case of injury or in case one should fail to deliver the desired results. There young budding stars like Adolphe Teikou who plays from Sochaux in France, Allan Nyom of Watford football club in England as well as Abouna Ndzana who was called up in replacement of Oyongo Bitolo.
With the absence of Carlos Kameni, Hugo Broos will have to deal with a less experienced but equally talented goalkeeper in the person of Guy Roland Assembe, Fabrice Ondoua or André Onana. Both Fabrice Ondoua and André Onana play for second division clubs in Europe while Ndy Assembe though with a first division club in France, Nancy, has not been very regular in the club like the first two. Nkoulou will therefore have to do a lot of talking to position the players as the young goalkeepers will not have the courage and experience to talk to the elderly players. However, the Lions defense is good as they have not been conceding many goals. They have so far conceded no goal in the qualifiers for the 2017 Africa cup of nations and the first round of the qualifiers for the 2018 world cup in Russia. Cameroon no doubt has to be on their guard as the Lions have never defeated South Africa in an official match.
