<div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30 alignnone" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/2022/02/edc0923041d8c75239e6d406c5067b8428d30293-768x557.webp" width="768" height="557"></figure></div>
Yaoundé (AFP) – Former star player Rigobert Song is set to be named as head coach of the Cameroon national team, replacing Toni Conceicao, on the orders of the country’s president, the sports minister said on Monday.
Portugal’s Conceicao has led Cameroon into the play-offs of World Cup qualifying and took them to a third-placed finish at the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil last month.
Sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said Cameroonian President Paul Biya has ordered the national football federation to give the job to ex-Liverpool defender Song.
“On very high instructions from the President of the Republic, the coach of the men’s national football team, Mr Antonio Conceicao, has been replaced by Rigobert Song,” Kombi said in a statement.
“The Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) is invited to take the necessary measures for a rapid and harmonious implementation of these very high directives.”
Fecafoot has confirmed “the end of the contract” of Conceicao.
Cameroon face 2019 African champions Algeria in a two-legged play-off for a place at the World Cup in Qatar later this year on March 25 and 29.
Song, who played in England, France, Italy, Germany and Turkey during his club career, is the Indomitable Lions’ all-time leading appearance maker with 137.
He played in four World Cups and won the 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations titles.
Song was also the coach of the Cameroon Under-21 side.

Rigobert Song to be appointed Cameroon coach on orders of nation's president

Rigobert Song to be appointed Cameroon coach on orders of nation's president - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30 alignnone" width="768" height="557" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/2017/02/f1e5dfcf62fc52d59c867f57d69a89197808385d-768x557.webp"></figure></div>
Libreville (AFP) – Cameroon coach Hugo Broos hailed his side’s triumph against the odds at the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday and declared his hope that it can herald a bright future for the country.
Broos had to deal with a host of refusals from key players to accept call-ups for the Cup of Nations but a new squad defied expectations to reach the final, where they beat Egypt 2-1 in Libreville.
“It’s true that when I came to Cameroon nearly a year ago I found a group of players who were old, not motivated, so I had to change that,” Broos said after the Indomitable Lions came from behind to beat Egypt with goals from Nicolas Nkoulou and Vincent Aboubakar.
“The players were not coming to play for Cameroon, they were going because they had to, because the coach asked them to come.
“So I brought in some new young players and we started working. We did a good job and now today we have a team.
“We are still not on the highest level. We need to be much better, but it’s already a great beginning.
“I am very happy that we won the Cup of Nations today and I am happy for the players — this is not a group of football players, they are a group of friends.”
Broos added that he needed to have some strong words for his players at the interval after a first half in which Egypt were on top.
The Egyptians led through a Mohamed Elneny goal midway through the first half but Nkoulou levelled just before the hour and Aboubakar won it with two minutes left.
“I think in the first half we were tactically not in good positions. The midfield was dominated by Egypt and we had some positional mistakes,” Broos said.&nbsp;
“It’s very difficult to change that during the game so at half-time I told them what they had to do and they did what I asked of them.&nbsp;
“You see the result. But it’s not only that — we were physically much better than Egypt.”

Cameroon victory 'a great beginning' &#8211; Broos

Cameroon victory 'a great beginning' - Broos - World Soccer Talk

Cameroon victory 'a great beginning' – Broos

<div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30 alignnone" width="768" height="557" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/2017/01/bbf669d4d59f0aac393c5a64faebbfc546f16924-768x557.webp"></figure></div>
Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) – Cameroon’s presence in the last four of the Africa Cup of Nations against all the odds owes much to the exceptional performances of their 21-year-old goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa.
Following snubs from several experienced players, the Indomitable Lions travelled to Gabon with what looked like their weakest ever squad at the competition.
And yet Ondoa has helped them progress at the expense of the hosts and much-fancied Senegal and on to a semi-final against Ghana on Thursday.
“Since the start of the competition he has saved us in a lot of matches. He has really been in his element,” said teammate Arnaud Djoum of the man who has been handed the gloves by coach Hugo Broos.
It was Ondoa’s remarkable reaction save to deny Didier Ndong in injury time that allowed Cameroon to draw 0-0 with Gabon and go through to the last eight.
His performances in the group stage led to him being named in the official team of the round, but better was to come.
He thwarted Senegal time and again throughout a goalless 120 minutes before stopping Sadio Mane’s crucial penalty in the shoot-out to set Cameroon up for a famous win.
“Players like him have a rare talent,” Ondoa said after his save from the Liverpool star. “You cannot show them that you know which way he is going to shoot.&nbsp;
“I had to wait until the last moment to dive and try to stop the ball. You need quality in football, but courage, determination and faith can take you a long way.”
Ondoa has needed plenty of these qualities on the road to becoming a national hero while his presence scarcely seems to register with his club.
He is, effectively, a reserve player for a reserve team. On loan to Sevilla’s B team in the Spanish second division, Ondoa can’t get a game.
But with Carlos Kameni out of the reckoning and Guy-Roland Ndy Assembe and Andre Onana rejecting call-ups the path was cleared for him at international level.
“A lot of people were talking about the choice of goalkeeper. But he has proven he deserves his place,” added Djoum, the Hearts midfielder.
Fai Collins, the full-back, shared that sentiment when asked to give his verdict on the shot-stopper.
“Frankly, I can’t say I am surprised because he is a talented goalkeeper,” said Collins.&nbsp;
“But with the work he puts in, it has really moved me, knowing he is not the first choice at his club and yet he is having a great tournament.”
Ondoa’s talent has never been in doubt. Indeed, he was picked up by Barcelona as a youngster and did enough to get a professional contract at the Camp Nou, albeit only with their B team.
He made his full international debut aged 18 and played for Cameroon at the 2015 Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
From a country that has produced goalkeeping greats like Thomas Nkono and Joseph-Antoine Bell, Ondoa always looked to have a big future ahead of him.
But Barcelona allowed him to leave last year and he was eventually picked up by Gimnastic Tarragona, a Spanish second-tier side from Catalonia, before being loaned to Seville.
His displays in Gabon could provide a much-needed shot in the arm for his club career, and Bell for one has not lost faith.
“When you are lucky enough to get a break so early on at that level, I don’t see how you couldn’t end up at a big club one day,” said the 62-year-old goalkeeping great turned pundit.

Cameroon owe it to Ondoa, club outcast but national hero

Cameroon owe it to Ondoa, club outcast but national hero - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-30 alignnone" width="768" height="557" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/2016/12/2acf346217da75c7b85113975e6cfdab4690460d-768x606-768x557.webp"></figure></div>
Paris (AFP) – Former Cameroon captain Rigobert Song is fit again after a narrow brush with death when suffering a stroke in early October, he explained in an interview published by French daily L’Equipe on Saturday.
“I’m back from the brink,” the former Liverpool and West Ham defender who led Cameroon to back-to-back African Cup of Nations declared.
“My blood pressure was up at like 25 and it felt like my head was exploding,” he said of his stroke, suffered at his home in Yaounde October 3.
“I was lucky to fall on my side and that way when I went down my tongue came out.”
“My dog started barking and the concierge came up but didn’t dare come in. But then a friend showed up and got me help,” he explained.
The 40-year-old was airlifted to France for specialist treatment after suffering a cerebral aneurysm and falling into a coma.
Unmissable on the pitch with his flowing dreadlocks that were dyed blond later in his career, Song also played for Metz and Lens in France and won two league titles at Galatasaray in Turkey.
For Cameroon he played in the same team as the veteran Roger Milla at the 1994 World Cup before the emergence of goal king Samuel Eto’o alongside whom he helped forge Cameroon’s global status.
He was capped 137 times, 36 of them were at CAN finals where he captained his country to the trophy twice in 2000 and 2002 and also won Olympic gold in 2000.
Perhaps the lowest point of his career came at the 2003 Confederations Cup when his friend and central defence partner Marc Vivien Foe died during a game against Colombia from a hereditary heart condition.

Cameroon's Song back from the brink after stroke

Cameroon's Song back from the brink after stroke - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from Cameroon. Find out about all the news related to Cameroon on worldsoccertalk.com