Yaounde, Cameroon—After winning the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the
Indomitable Lions of Cameroon are now poised to lift the trophy of the FIFA
Confederations Cup tournament in Russia later this month.
The much-coveted FIFA Confederations Cup trophy made a
stop-over in Cameroon on Friday June 2 in a final stop of a tour of the eight
countries set to compete at the global tournament in Russia later this month.
On behalf of the Indomitable Lions, midfielder
Sebastien Siani promised they are going to Russia to win the trophy to honour
the memory of Marc Vivien Foe, a former midfielder of the team who collapsed on
the field during the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final between Cameroon and
Colombia and later died in France.
Like Siani, the President of the Cameroon Football
Federation (FECAFOOT), Tombi a Roko Sidiki was optimistic that the five times
African champions will lift the trophy as a mark of honour to the continent.
“We are not only representing the country Cameroon but
the continent and our ambition is to win the trophy,” Tombi said.
Olivier Dacourt, who was part of the France teams that
lifted the trophy in both 2001 and 2003 and now part of the FIFA Legends team
accompanying the trophy tour urged the team maintain the 2017 AFCON steam and
win the trophy.
“Winning the Africa Cup of Nations was a real feat for
Cameroon the important thing is that they keep up their momentum,” Mr Dacourt
said.
Participants in the 2017 Confederations Cup are hosts
Russia, 2014 FIFA World Cup Champions Germany, 2015 Copa America Champions
Chile, 2015 AFC Asian Cup Champion Australia, 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners
Mexico, 2016 UEFA Euro Cup champs Portugal, OFC (Oceania Football
Confederation) Nations Cup victors New Zealand and 2017 CAF Africa Cup of
Nations Champion Cameroon that will be participating for the third time.
No African team has ever won the Confederations Cup.
The best performance to date by the continent’s representatives in the
competition remains that of Roger Milla’s country that reached the final in
2003 but lost to France.
While the trophy left Yaounde back to Russia, the
Indomitable Lions who have been training in city since Monday also left for
Malabo in neighbouring Equatorial Guinea where they will camp till June 8.
They will welcome Atlas Lions of Morocco in their
first AFCON 2019 qualification match on June 10 before travelling to Madrid,
Spain for a friendly against Colombia on June 13, according to the official
program of the team.
The African champions will then move on June 14 for
the FIFA Confederations Cup from June 17 to July 2 in Russia.
Cameroon will play in group B of the FIFA
Confederations Cup alongside Chile, Australia and Germany. Their first game of
the global tournament against Chile on June 18 will be staged at the Spartak
Stadium in Moscow.
By Ndi Eugene Ndi
As the FIFA world Cup 2018 edges closer, many fans including me, might be wondering how to screen all FIFA World Cup games at home. Well, at least I have figured out how to and you can too by going through this link below. Fifa World Cup 2018 Schedule
ReplyDelete