The cult of the coach has reached new heights in Cameroon, where Rigobert Song’s face stares from countless roadside billboards and no current national player comes remotely close to rivaling the coach’s fame.
The song certainly radiated a distinctive aura as it entered a fashionably late Doha media theater on Wednesday evening. Dressed in a bright white tracksuit and an equally bright white baseball cap, complete with a huge peak, which crowned his long black dreadlocks, he looked more like a rock star taking to the stage than a typical coach. football
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As the former Liverpool and West Ham defender laid out his hopes for the Indomitable Lions’ opening group game against Switzerland on Thursday, a seemingly bemused crowd took the opportunity to capture endless images of Song and his signature beard gray beanie on their cell phones.
Undeterred by Switzerland’s position, 28 places above Cameroon in the Fifa rankings, he was in exuberant mood and suggested a surprise could be in store. “Switzerland will see our fire tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t care about the rankings, they’re only on paper. Who knew Saudi Arabia would beat Argentina? We are fully fit and focused. Our pedigree will be known tomorrow.”
Poor Samuel Oum Gouet, the 24-year-old midfielder with Belgian Mechelen sitting next to his coach, who barely had a word. In fact, when a reporter asked Gouet a rare question, both coach and player burst out laughing.
After the briefing, Song stepped off the stage and stood patiently, oozing charm, as reporters and tournament officials lined up to shake his hand, pose for selfies in his side and chat with a man who played four World Cups. .
André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, here with the ball against Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations in February, is Cameroon’s brightest talent. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP
It seemed hard to believe that there was a moment, six years ago, when everything stopped for the Cameroon manager. Aged just 40, Song collapsed with a brain haemorrhage and was in a coma for two days. When he came out of it, doctors at the emergency hospital in Yaoundé decided that his brain aneurysm needed specialist treatment in France and he spent the next six months in Paris recuperating before returning to Cameroon and eventually , resuming his coaching career later in 2017.
Fast forward to February this year, and a coach who spent the last five years working with the Cameroon FA succeeded António Conceição as head coach of the Indomitable Lions.
Although Song’s appointment came after an explicit order from Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, it felt like a crucial moment for a country that has imported a long line of foreign coaches: Conceição is Portuguese.
Song’s critics, and there are a few, may claim he lacks top-line managerial experience and is too relaxed for the role, but most seem willing to give Cameroon’s most prominent player the benefit of the doubt. What’s more, this outwardly relaxed demeanor does not, at least so far, seem incompatible with motivating the players to reach new heights as they prepare to face not only Switzerland, but Serbia and Brazil in a tricky Group G.
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High pressing and attack-minded, particularly down the flanks, Cameroon, thanks in part to Song’s pulling power, have developed a useful habit of convincing dual nationals to choose to play for them. By choosing to turn his back on France, the country of his birth and that of his mother, Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo epitomizes this trend.
“We like music and we like to dance; he is incredible in our dressing room”, says the former French youth international. “It’s a lot of fun.”
While Mbeumo’s attacking skills improve Cameroon, his brightest talent lies in the center of the pitch, where Napoli’s André-Frank Zambo Anguissa has rediscovered the talent he seemingly lost during a previous spell with Fulham.
Part of his job is to help create goals for Karl Brilliant Toko Ekambi who, despite operating mainly on the left, has scored 38 goals in 108 games for Lyon and also registered five at the Africa Cup of Nations this year
Mbeumo was recruited over a dinner in London by Samuel Eto’o, who had flown in specially from his home in west-central Africa where, as head of Cameroon’s football federation, the former Barcelona forward , Internazionale, Chelsea and Everton is now the boss of Song.
“We’re going to Qatar to win the World Cup,” says Eto’o, ignoring Cameroon’s record of having progressed only once from the tournament’s group stage (at Italia 90 when they lost in the quarter-finals against Sir Bobby Robson’s England after extra time). ). “The other teams don’t have the same magic that we do.”
Although Cameroon qualified for Qatar by the skin of their teeth, narrowly beating Algeria in a play-off, Eto’o has increased the pressure on Song by suggesting an all-African final is possible. “We haven’t always shown our best side at World Cups,” says a man who is rumored to sometimes succumb to the temptation to interfere in the manager’s squad selection. “But now the African teams are ready. Cameroon will win the final against Morocco.”
At the very least, Song seems totally on message. “We’re on a mission,” he said Wednesday. “And we know how to win.”