How Cameroon Won Nations Cup Without 8 Key Players …. With Coach Hired Online

Cameroon won the African Nations Cup for the fifth time, on Sunday beating Egypt by two goals to one, without eight key national team players and with a coach that was recruited through an online advertisement.

Cameroon went to the Nations Cup with a team consisting largely of young and inexperienced players after several senior team players pulled out of the squad due to mainly personal issues.

Also, the coach of the victorious team, Hugo Broos, disclosed that he applied for the job through an online advertisement.

Indeed, Cameroon could not have won a more unlikely title than this. Nobody gave Broos’ remoulded side a chance of coming home from Gabon with the trophy.

Joel Matip of Liverpool is one of the eight who told Broos they were not interested in being selected for the tournament in Gabon, which started on January 14.

Others include Andre Onana (Ajax Amsterdam), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Nancy), Allan Nyom (West Bromwich Albion), Maxime Poundje (Girondins Bordeaux), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Olympique Marseille) and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille).

But a brilliant 88th-minute volley from substitute, Vincent Aboubakar, turned the final match on its head and brought wild, emotional celebrations minutes later.

It was a goal fit to win any final, anywhere, and a victory to soften the steeliest of hearts.

It was still something of a surprise when they equalized just before the hour. Nicolas N’Koulou had replaced the injured Adolphe Teikeu during the opening period, and the centre-back’s contribution was emphatic, rising to thump a brave header past El Hadary from Benjamin Moukandjo’s left-sided cross.

Broos’ reliance on young players like Ondoa and Bassogog has been well documented, but it was two senior players who made the difference. It had seemed like a match too far for this side, but N’Koulou and Aboubakar, relative veterans at 26 and 25 but with considerable top-level experience behind them, tipped the scales and achieved the impossible.

Nkoulou, the Lyon defender, has had to kick his heels on the bench for most of the tournament but put his head in where it counted to equalize despite taking a knock for his troubles.

Aboubakar had only played 88 minutes in the tournament before his half-time introduction for the struggling Tambe and provided the flourish by which the final will always be remembered. It is hard to remember a game at any level that has been won by such a piece of individual brilliance; it was the finish of a player who can be brilliant on his day and it showed the value of keeping a close-knit squad happy.

That could have been no easy task for Broos, who has made brave decisions in devising this success and risked alienating the public early in his tenure. Nobody is questioning him now.

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