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Low squad morale and poor World Cup history doesn't fill Cameroon with confidence.
EXPECTATIONS
It’s fair to say Cameroon qualified with significant help from a technicality: Togo beat them 2-0 but fielded an ineligible player. The 3-0 win awarded to them helped rescue a poor campaign, ultimately reaching Rio with a play-off success against Tunisia.
There is minimal expectation of anything other than a first-round exit, as has happened on every time they have qualified except for 1990.
It also doesn’t bode well that the squad reportedly refused to board the team plane last weekend amid a row over potential bonuses!
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COACH
Volker Finke spent 16 years at Freiburg — promoting them to the Bundesliga for the first time — before moving to Japan, where he spent a disappointing season at Urawa Red Diamonds.
The 66-year-old has managed a notoriously difficult dressing room expertly and looks set to stay for the 2015 African Nations Cup.
STARS
Samuel Eto’o may be too old for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea but the 33-year-old remains a vital player for Cameroon, with 56 goals in 117 matches. Big things are expected from the player heralded as his heir, 18-year-old Fabrice Olinga, who became the youngest scorer in the Spanish top flight two years ago.
TACTICS
Finke has to reconcile his more attacking instincts with the pragmatic notion that Cameroon must make themselves difficult to beat. Alex Song is an important player in this respect, helping to shield a back four in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-5-1 system depending on their level of caution.
