2015 AFCON: Lions begin camping in Mbankomo

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will begin training today at the CAF Excellence centre in Mbankomo near Yaounde in view of the upcoming encounters against the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire on November 15th and 19th respectively. The matches count for the 5th and 6th days of play of the ongoing qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

The players were expected to have arrived in the country yesterday and lodged at the Mont Febe before the onward journey to Mbankomo today. They are scheduled to have one training session today at 4 p.m. and two training sessions each day in the mornings and afternoons. On Wednesday, the training session will be open to the public and will be followed by a press conference.

Coach Volker Finke had published a list of 24 players to defend the national colours in the dual confrontations. He maintained confidence in the same squad that begun the qualifiers with only two new names added to the squad. Cameroon is currently leading group D with ten points, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire on six points each.

Sierra Leone is the Benjamin of the group with one point. While the die is already cast for Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo still stand a chance of qualifying for the final round of the tournament. Hence the D. R. Congo will be coming for nothing short of a victory spurred by their 4-3 victory over Cote d’Ivoire at their own backyard in Abidjan.

To increase their chances of victory, the D. R. Congo has decided to camp in Yaounde so as to avoid the strain of travelling to Cameroon on the eve of the encounter without enough time to recover which could weigh on the physical fitness of the players.

Owing to the porosity of the Ivorian defence, the coach Hervé Renard had to suspend his reconstruction work and calling back the old guard; Didier Zokora who put an end to his international retirement and Kolo Touré. There will therefore be no room for error for the Lions when they take on D. R. Congo. A simple draw will be enough to enable Cameroon to qualify for the final round of the tournament.

Meanwhile, CAF will make a final decision as to which country will host the competition today. The pre-designated host, Morocco has been clamouring for a postponement of the tournament while CAF is adamant about any change of dates. Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria have manifested their interest to host the tournament should Morocco refuse.