Walter Wilson Nana, AfricaNews reporter in Buea, Cameroon Photo: Nana Kofi Acquah during CAN 2008
Four new coaches have been appointed to assist the current trainer of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, German-born Otto Pfister. Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Thierry Augustin Edjoa, signed the appointment decision this past Thursday.
The coaches, all Cameroonians include; Jean Paul Akono, Michel Kaham, Martin Ndtoungou Mpile and Thomas Nkono, who is been re-appointed. The four replace Gueha Ikouam, who was the assistant to Pfister.
The Sports Minister’s decision is coming on the heels of scathing criticisms Pfister and Ikouam have received since the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, painfully lost to the Hawks of Togo on Saturday, March 28 at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana. This was the first match, for the Lions, in the third and last eliminatory phase of the joint 2010 African Cup of Nations and World Cup billed for Angola and South Africa respectively.
In one of the fact-finding meetings, in the conference room of the Ministry of Sports & Physical Education, on what happened to the Lions after their defeat in Ghana, Cameroon and African football legend, Albert Roger Milla, exchanged bitter words with Pfister. Milla put the blame of the Lions’ poor show on Pfister’s door steps. The former, even, publicly, requested the latter’s dismissal from the Lions’ den. Milla found Pfister incompetent to manage the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.
