Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
Tuesday, May 20 2014, 27 of the 28 preselected players by Cameroon’s coach, Volker Finke arrived at the training ground in Austria. The absentee is defender, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who has been held back by his Division 2 team, Queens Park Rangers in England that is involved in the play-off match against Derby County for qualification into the Premiere League in England come Saturday, May 24 2014. Hence, serious business has begun for the Lions’ campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup due in Brazil in the next four weeks.
So far, captain Samuel Fils Eto’o and his mates have begun a series of training sessions. According to the Team Press Officer of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Raphael Nkoa, the intensive training programme has been unfolded already; “Every day, we will have a general training session, thereafter we have two separate training sessions and in the evening the players are expected to watch a recorded match of Cameroon’s opponents at the World Cup, Mexico, Croatia and Brazil,” he told journalists.
Indomitable Lions of Cameroon - We are in Austria for serious business
Apart from the botched international friendly between Cameroon and Guatemala earlier slated for June 7 2014 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, the other international friendlies programmed for the Lions are still intact.
After the March 5 2014 4-1 defeat from Portugal in Lieira, Cameroon will take on Macedonia on Monday, May 26 2014 in the Kufstein Stadium, Austria. Three days later, May 29 2014, the Indomitable Lions will sharpen their skills with Paraguay still in Kufstein and on Sunday, June 1 2014, the Cameroonian national football squad will be up for a big do with the German Manschafft. Done with the game against Germany, another qualified country for the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Volker Finke is expected to make public his final 23-man team for the Brazil 2014 Campaign that will carry the flag of Cameroon.
As part of the strategy of the technical bench of the Lions to fortify the team, a five-man technico-medical staff have been hired to join the squad. These include French man Christophe Manouvrier, who played that role briefly during the short stay of French born coach for the Lions, Denis Lavagne in 2011. There is Aex Weib who will play the role of chief scout for the Lions. He is expected to make available to the Lions head coach, Volker Finke, the modus operandi of Cameroon’s opponents at the World Cup and those the Lions will face if they qualify for the second round of the World Cup in Brazil. Boris NOLZON and Christopher SCHMOFD have been given the responsibility to analyse the videos of Lions’ challengers for the first round and would be opponents as they progress in the competition. UWE Vetter joins the Lions’ den and the medical team as the kinetherapist.
- Training camp of Team Cameroun for Preparation of the FIFA Worldcup Brasil 2014 at the Seeresidenz in Walchsee, Austria on 2014/05/21. EXPA Pictures © 2014, PhotoCredit: EXPA/ JFK
Some members of the Indomitable Lions family in a convivial atmosphere at their Seehof Walchsee lodge in Austria
