Cameroon

12, June 2016

Eric Mbu Ayuk scores as the Indomitable Lions humiliate Zimbabwe ⁰

The match counting for the second day of qualification for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia 2017, was played in the new Olympic stadium in Bafoussam. The Indomitable Lions took the lead against Zimbabwe at the 20th minute of play through Eric Mbu Ayuk who plays his professional football in the USA.

The second goal was scored by Victor Mpindi Ekani of AS Fortuna Mfou. The lions scored the third in the second half. The Indomitable Lions had played a goalless draw in the first leg in Harare. The Lions next stop will be Libya.

CIR

9, June 2016

Samuel Eto’o pays homage to the late President of the Cameroon Professional Footballers Association ⁰

Samuel Eto’o, and many other Cameroonian football legends were among the mammoth crowd that answered present at the Military mortuary in Bonanjo- Douala to pay their last tribute to a prominent personality of the Cameroon football family.

The late David Mayebi, National President of the Cameroon Professional Footballers Association suffered a heart attack on May the 3rd in Bertoua in the East region at a ceremony where he was laying the foundation stone for a municipal stadium in the city. He was rushed to the CNPS hospital in Yaounde where he died at the intensive care unit.

CIR

7, June 2016

League 1: UMS maintains lead ⁰

When UMS assumed the leadership position of the league one championship, many thought it was going to be short lived especially as the club is newly promoted and has witnessed a string of dismissal of coaches. However as the championship enters the second and most decisive phase; UMS of Loum has come to prove they mean real business.

After waning on the 18^th day of play when they obtained a draw, UMS bounced back on the chivalric path by obtaining the first ever victory against Cosmos of Mbam. The 3-0 victory enabled the club from Loum to conserve the top seat with 37 points, thus maintaining the three-point gap separating them from their immediate challengers, Yong Sports in the second position.

The status quo is maintained within the top quartet as runners up Yong Sports equally beat Apejes 2-1 on the 19^th day of play to continue turning the heat on the league leaders. Union also maintained their dream intact of lifting the championship title by beating Eding Sport at home in Douala. Coton Sport joined the winning spree by equally outpacing Panthere of Nde 3-1 to maintain to move up one place on the classification table to occupy the 4^th position on the classification table.

Unisport on the contrary lost three positions on the point tally sheet, dropping from; the second to the 5^th position owing to the zero-all-tie against Astres on the 19^thday of play. Teams keep on criss-crossing each other at the middle of the table with teams like Panthere dropping from the 8^th to the 11^th position and Racing dropping from the 7^th to the 8^th position.

The most spectacular rise is however that of Canon Yaounde who moved from the 11^th to the 7^th position thanks to her 3-1 victory over Botafogo over the weekend. There is also Aigle Royal which has moved up from the 12^th to the 10^th position. Dragon also gained two places moving from the 15^th to the 13^th position.

The situation remains unchanged at the bottom of the league table with Lion Blessé, Botafogo and Cosmos still languishing in the relegation zone. The Benjamin of the group, Cosmos continued gliding further towards the precipice after suffering an umpteenth defeat against UMS over the weekend. Lion Blessé remains the first team below the relegation line in the 16^th position after bowing 0-1 to New Stars in the inaugural league one encounter at the Limbe Omnisport stadium. Botafogo also remains stagnant in the 17^th position, sinking further down the drain after the 1-3 defeat to Canon.

Cameroon Tribune

6, June 2016

Former President of the Cameroon Football Federation back in prison ⁰

Disgraced former president of the Cameroon Football Federation FECAFOOT and former General Manager of the Cameroon Cotton Development Company SODECOTTON, Iya Mohammed has returned to his prison cell at Kondengui after spending eleven days at the National Social Insurance Hospital in the nation’s capital Yaounde. Cameroon Intelligence Report learnt Iya was admitted there since May the 24th.

Sources close to the detainee’s family reported that the situation was not serious. Iya Mohammed was arrested in 2013 on charges of embezzlement in SODECOTON. He was tried by the Special Criminal Court in September 2015 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Iya was found guilty of diversion and coercion of over 10 billion CFA francs in the period 2005 – 2010. He secretly funded Coton Sport of Garoua with money from SODECOTON.

5, June 2016

League 1: New Stars triumph over Lion Blesse, Yong Sport in Champions League position ⁰

League 1: Results after the 19 day of play

Limbé: New stars – Lion blessé 1 – 0

Douala: Union – Eding 2 – 0

Bafoussam: Racing – Dragon 0 – 1

Mfou: Apejes – Yong sport 1 – 2

Mfou: Cosmos – Ums 0 – 3

Mbankomo: Canon – Botafogo 3 – 1

Garoua: Coton sport – Panthère 3 – 1

Mbouda: Bamboutos – Aigle 0 – 1

Bafang: Unisport – Astres 0 – 0

League I table

1 – Ums 37 points

2 – Yong sport 34 points

3 – Union 33 points

4 – Coton 32 points

5 – Unisport 32 points

6 – New stars 30 points

7 – Racing 25 points

8 – Astres 25 points

9 – Aigle 25 points

10 – Panthère 24 points

11 – Canon 23 points

12 – Eding 23 points

13 – Bamboutos 21 points

3, June 2016

Cameroon League 1: The Battle for leadership ⁰

The battle for leadership will hit a higher gear this weekend as the championship enters the second and most decisive phase with matches counting for the 19^th day of play scheduled to take place in stadiums across the country. Four teams, separated by barely three points are engaged in the contention for the league title this year namely, UMS, Unisport, Yong Sport and Union of Douala in order of appearance on the point tally sheet.

The point of interest will be to find out if UMS of Loum will continue maintaining her lead on the championship when they take on the Benjamin of the championship, Cosmos in the second encounter at the municipal stadium in Mfou on Sunday. The runners-up, Unisport will also be out to catch up with the leaders when they play host to visiting Astres of Douala at the municipal stadium in Bafang. Third-placed Yong Sport with 31 points as Unisport but outsmarted on goal difference, will also be out to maintain their good form when they take on Apejes in Mfou.

Union in the fourth position with 30 points and Coton sport in the fifth position with 29 points are equally not left out of the contention for leadership. Union will be slotting it out with Eding Sport at the Reunification stadium in Douala while the colossus from the North, Coton Sport will knock horns with Panthere in their stronghold in Garoua.

While the top quartet or quintet will be jostling for leadership, teams below the relegation line will be fighting for survival in the elite championship by hopping out of the danger zone. This is the case with teams like Dragon, Lion Blessé, Botafogo and Cosmos. While all hopes can be said to have been lost for Cosmos and Botafogo who have so far earned only 14 points and 16 points respectively in 18 outings and Botafogo, Dragon mathematically can still salvage their season but with the poor form shown by the team from Yaounde since the beginning of the championship, it is unlikely that Dragon can accomplish such a super human feat.

Dragon will embark on a perilous journey to Bafoussam to challenge local side Racing while Botafogo will also be travelling to Mbalmayo to slot it out with Canon. Teams in the middle of the table will be seeking to comfort their stay so as to be able to negotiate matches towards the end of the season when thing gets rough.

Cameroon Tribune

3, June 2016

International Friendlies: France 3, Cameroon 2 ⁰

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon have suffered a three goals to two defeat inflicted on them by the French National team. This was during an international friendly match at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes in France in the build to Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier on June 3rd, against Mauritania.
The international friendly was also to prepare the French National team ahead of the 2016 UEFA European Championship starting June 10th. The 3 – 2 victory by France over Cameroon has given, manager Didier Deschamps’ side, hosts of the tournament, automatic qualification for UEFA 2016. Sports analysts, say France had a unique preparations for Euro 2016 compared to the other 23 nations participating in the competition. The French side is expected to play one more friendly against Scotland on Saturday, June 4, ahead of the start of Euro 2016.

During the Monday encounter, Blaise Matuidi gave the hosts the lead with a smart goal, but before the French public had time to celebrate, Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar equalized barely two minutes later. Olivier Giroud scored another goal for France just before half-time, the Indomitable Lions attempted to level score to no avail.

In the second half, Les Bleus dominated possession but created few chances, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting surprised the home side with a late equalizer at the 88th minute. Cameroonians had not savoured the score when, Dimitri Payet found the net for a last minute goal; giving France a win over Cameroon. Indomitable Lions goal keeper, Fabrice Ondoua has been highly appreciated for the magnificent and timely saves the spared the Cameroonian national team from conceding several goals.

3, June 2016

Cameroon: Patrick Ekeng goes home to rest ⁰

The remains of the Cameroon international Patrick Ekeng has been laid to rest at their family compound in Ngousso,Yaounde. Patrick Ekeng died of a suspected heart attack after collapsing on the pitch playing for Dinamo Bucharest on 6th May 2016.

The Cameroon football family paid tribute to the player, led by the country’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Bidoung Kpwatt, who represented Cameroon’s president Paul Biya. Cameroon players past and present attended the service, and gave support to Ekeng’s wife and family.

His brother Jacques Ekeng said it is a great lost as “Patou” as he was fondly called was the breadwinner to the family. “He gave more love to his friends than to his family. That is Patrick, he was generous,” Jacques Ekeng said.

Patrick Ekeng’s club Dinamo Bucharest said they would honour the player’s memory by sending the Romanian Cup to his family in Cameroon if they win the trophy. Thirteen-time winners Dinamo face CFR Cluj in the postponed final on 17 May.

2, June 2016

Medical prescription for FECAFOOT Ulcer ⁰

Cameroon’s Minister for Sports and Physical Education, Pierre Ismael Bidoung Mkpatt, has insinuated that the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee is incompetent to determine the validity of elections at the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT. The Minister’s stand on the overdue electoral bickering at FECAFOOT was made known yesterday in Yaounde and broadcast nation-wide following fears that the perennial contesting faction of the federation led by former Vice President, John Begheni Nde was bracing up to take over management of FECAFOOT affairs less than 72 hours after the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee had ruled that the recent elections that brought current President Tombi Aroko Sidiki to power was null and void. Can we therefore say the curtains have ultimately been drawn on the longstanding melodrama at FECAFOOT? We of Cameroon Concord News Group say NO! Needless taking you back to how we got to where we are now.

Rather, let us take the cue from when Tombi Aroko was sworn in as FECAFOOT boss. As celebrations went underway at the FECAFOOT headquarters in the Tsinga neighbourhood in Yaounde, the brain trust of the distraught faction was meticulously putting together files to challenge the decision to uphold the validity of the elections. One file bungled, while the other one convinced the Conciliation and Arbitration Committee of the National Olympic and Sports Committee to nullify the deliberations of the last FECAFOOT General Assembly, by implication, declaring the elections null and void.

FECAFOOT had 21 days to appeal the decision. But three days into the appeal opening, Minister Bidoung Mkpatt, the same one who had been sacked from Government in 2004 in the heat of the stand off between FIFA and FECAFOOT over the Indomitable Lions single outfit, undertook to hoodwink a carefully chosen group of officials to come up with what is currently tearing apart the football family in the country. Can someone explain to us why Abdourhaman Amadou and Co. who seem to be a particularly clever lot could not be cowed into submission by a conglomerate of learned men of the law? Without being a football astrologer, Cameroon Intelligence Report can safely conclude that Abdourhaman and Co. are already whistling foul and are certainly taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne who, before any other thing else, will raise an objection as to what we will be reminded of as being government intervention in football management in Cameroon.

For a man whom President Biya, against all odds, decided to offer some political rehabilitation, it is regrettable that Minister Bidoung Mkpatt should consciously create more problems for an octogenarian leader suffering from insomnia. Which way out? It is a matter of common sense that in such a long drawn out problem, a lot has been wasted and destroyed in material, financial, ego-tripping considerations. For one thing, the Government will not allow itself to be dragged endlessly in the mud with impunity.

The incumbent is certainly unwilling to let go the golden fleece after coming so close yet so far. And Sheik Abdourhaman Amadou who has demonstrated with outstanding finesse how well to read and interpret mere texts will for nothing at all slant from being The Cameroonian of the Year to a toddler. However, the complicated polynomial which otherwise should necessitate mastery of the Binomial theorem takes just knowledge of a simple linear equation to resolve: Summon Tombi and Abdourhamann to an eyeball-to-eyeball closed door discussion and ask them to grant a press conference after the secret meeting during which they will announce the joint decision and subsequently jointly supervise its implementation. This is our medical prescription to cure the cancerous ulcer lethally gnawing away at the FECAFOOT substrate.