APA-Douala (Cameroon) The Cameroonian press as a whole have been very critical of their national squad, the Indomitable Lions, after its 1 goal loss to Japan in its first World Cup game on Monday in South Africa.The daily « Le Messager » said « this defeat is a big disappointment for Cameroon, which has developed a dull and lacklustre match without a substantive game.The same story for another newspaper « La Nouvelle Expression », for whom this poor performance is among others not only the consequence of « the gang war » within the squad, but now the « Indomitable Lions » have their back to the wall for the rest of the competition.
« A huge disappointment for the people of Cameroon, few of whom expected this let-down, » the newspaper said.
Radio-TV « Equinoxe » added that « it is no longer time for players to get into their strides for coach Paul le Guen, » the French technician who is also much criticized « for his stubbornness to chose players based on subjective criteria ».
According to the media, « putting Alexandre Song on the bench has created a huge problem in the Cameroonian team which lost more than forty minutes in discussions instead of training. »
A « noxious atmosphere, premonition of defeat, » said the bi-weekly « Aurore Plus ».
The government daily, Cameroun Tribune, generally less critical reports that « the Lions got it completely wrong, » not without worrying about the tactical choices of the technical leadership.
Apart from the reports of journalists, analysis of most technicians reported by local newspapers argue that « Japan was within the reach of Cameroon », but that the defeat was the result of « bad coaching » of Le Guen who « could not compose a standard team and give it a baseline game. »
