Cameroon's Chances against Brazil

Yes, the picture says it all. This is how some Cameroonians feel about our match against Brazil. However, the history of our 3 confrontations in recent football history does not support this view. Cameroon was severely thrashed by Brazil who went ahead to win the USA 1994 World Cup during their first round encounter 3-0. It was a terrible year for Cameroon football, coinciding with organised stealing by the government: "Operation Coup de Coeur" in which the public contributed money to support the Lions but have never been told where the money went till date. The team was poorly managed by Frenchman Henri Michel and there was a lot of nepotism and corruption. However, a new charismatic player then made his entry into the National Team: Rigobert Song Bahanag.

The second encounter came during the 2000 Olympic games, though many prefer to omit this. They claim that Cameroon was playing with almost all of its first team while Brazil had truly selected youths and amateurs for its olympic team. Truth is however, that we thrashed them to proceed to the finals, with a brilliant show of sang froid from Mbami Modeste.

Third and final encounter, our first match during the 2003 Confederations cup in France. A sumptuous distant strike from Eto caught Dida unawares and Cameroon made history by progressing to the finals (and losing one of our greatest, Marc V. Foe on the way). Brazil had just won the 2002 World Cup, if anyone is forgetting. 

To those who are afraid, just remember the ball is round. All the times we have beaten them, they were favourites. It could be another opportunity to surprise Brazil with our legendary fighting spirit. Good luck to the Lions.