Brazil 2014: Cameroon is reaping what it sowed – Col. Pangop

For a long time, the disgraceful outing of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil will ache the hearts and spirits of many football lovers in and out of Cameroon. As the diagnosis is ongoing, one time President of FECAFOOT in the Southwest Region and President of Botafogo FC Buea, Colonel Louis Pangop, thinks Cameroon is reaping the bad fruits she sowed over the years in the football sector. In this exclusive interview, the Inspector of Army in the Ministry of Defence brings to fore the bane of Cameroon football and his vision if he gets to the helm of Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT.

How will you react to Cameroon’s performance?

It was predictable that Cameroon was not going to perform. In the past, it has always been improvisation and if, by chance, we do well, some people think Cameroon’s football is on the move. I say no! It cannot be like that all the time. Football has evolved and you must prepare for top competitions. Our pre-World Cup preparation was nothing to write home about.

At the 7th participation in a World Cup tourney, why did Cameroon go so low?

Did we need to go so low? I will say no! Could we have done better? I will say no! Our preparations could not have made us go anywhere, even if we had participated 100 times. We have been improvising. Take the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, how chaotic it was for Cameroon. Unfortunately, we never learn our lessons. We are reaping from what we sowed.

As lover and manager of football, was Volker Finke the right man to do the coaching job for Cameroon?

Trying to put blames in compartments is not what I like to do. The whole setup is bad. It is difficult to say it is because of A or B that the Lions flopped. If you single out Volker Finke, what about the players? Did they exhibit aspects of their talent? What about the administration and management of the team and football in Cameroon? Generally, everything was bad about Cameroon in Brazil 2014.

Why will Samuel Eto’o Fils, Jean II Makoun go to the World Cup when they would not play?

I have been in the business of football for long. And the intrigues in football in Cameroon cannot be explained in this few minutes of interview. Before these guys got into the final squad, the responsibility was beyond that of the coach. Why were they taken to the World Cup if they were not fit? With the intrigues, we cannot have the explanations now.

The qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations, AFCON 2015, take off in the next two months. Can a shattered team like the one we saw in Brazil rise up to the occasion?

Yes and No! There must be a defined policy of football in Cameroon. After this fiasco in Brazil, we should search our soul and reorganise football in this country. We cannot continue with this current management and think that we will achieve results. We have to review everything when the mandate of the Normalisation Committee comes to an end.

Do you share the view that the current team be disbanded and we start from scratch?

When you say the current team should be disbanded, it means that judgment is being passed without looking at the individual cases. With my background in Magistracy, that is not how judgment is passed. Each individual should be responsible for what he or she has done. It is important that we see where the problems are coming from before we move on with sanctions.

Can we successfully build Cameroon football with the same people running the show in FECAFOOT, in the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education?

When the Normalisation Committee will be done with their assignment and new statutes put in place, we will forge ahead in a new dispensation. Those who were there before and other new faces will come in.

From your own reading, what is the conflict between FECAFOOT and the Ministry of Sports?

The case in Cameroon is one of the rare instances in the world, where the management of football in a country is not defined. With the 1972 text, there are responsibilities given to FECAFOOT and others given to the Ministry of Sports. Respective Ministers of Sports in Cameroon have been interpreting the text to suit their parochial interest and that of their entourage and not for the good of the country. It is the 1972 text that is at the centre of all the problems in Cameroon, creating two bodies to do the same job. So, it is difficult to handle the situation.

What should be done with the current confusion created by the 1972 text?

Let’s wait for the outcome of the Normalisation Committee. If they are serious and the President of the Normalisation Committee being a former Minister of Sports, they will know that the text is the problem. If they go on, without ensuring that the text is amended, then I will start asking many questions.

Since 2002, Cameroon has won only one match at the FIFA World Cup, against Saudi Arabia? What has gone wrong with Cameroon football?

The institutional environment is not the best. The 1972 text is creating confusion. We cannot manage football with protocol agreements; FECAFOOT will do this and the Ministry of Sports will do that. We need a legal environment that will permit good organisation of football. Football is no longer any type of organisation. It is a corporate body, with corporate organisation, with set goals and strategies. If we do not go by these lines, then, there is not much we can do but get mediocre results. Anybody who wants to get into football in Cameroon must have a deep knowledge on management. It should be somebody who has a vision and a mission statement for Cameroon football. He or she should have the strategy to carry on with the mission.

Is there a place for professional players in Cameroon National Team?

The professional players do have a place. The issue is proper planning and organisation. It is not the professional players who will come and manage football in Cameroon. They should be part of the success story and not part of the problems as it has been in my opinion in the past years.

How do we bring back local players into the Cameroon National Team?

That is part of my 2018 vision of FECAFOOT. It is not a one-day issue. It is a process that must be put in place. It is a matter of a well defined organisational structure.

After all the mess, what are you proposing, following your background as a former President of FECAFOOT in the Southwest Region?

We should wait and see what the Normalisation Committee is up to. If I were to add something, in the sidelines of the Normalisation Committee, I will say that whoever is to head the football governing body in Cameroon should be somebody with a vision, a vision that is ready to be applied. I have a vision for football in Cameroon, which I think, at the right moment, I will make it public. As President of FECAFOOT in the Southwest Region, I brought three teams to Division 1 and won the Cup of Cameroon, which was not the case before. So, if we can achieve these at the regional level, what stops us from making it at the national level? We have the knowhow and we are ready to salvage Cameroon football. I have had a hidden life and this is the time to come out for the betterment of Cameroon football. We have a lot of talents in this country that must be harnessed.

What is this vision of yours for the betterment of Cameroon football?

I am looking at football as a corporate body. Many things have gone wrong before. So, we must make a diagnosis before we proceed. We have to look at the 3 Rs; Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rebuilding. In these, we must have football, sports educators. That is, we must implant the culture of football in Cameroon. So far, we have been thriving on improvisation. If we do not have a football culture, we will not succeed. As President of FECAFOOT, Southwest Region, part of our successes was that we took football to the remote areas of the Region. We were developing the culture of football in the Southwest Region and in the process, we obtained great results. This is what should obtain at the national level. We must unearth the hidden talents across the country. And this can be achieved with sports educators. Not the school of sports training educators but FECAFOOT grooming its own sports educators. The CAF Centre in Mbankomo can be a good training ground for FECAFOOT football educators. That can be done with an agreement with CAF and subsequently we redeploy the educators in the remote areas of the country. And with patience exercised, we will get results in years to come. Cameroonians always want quick results. It is not possible. It is also about reconciling the players, the management and the public on Cameroon football. We must be able to be in unison despite our diversity in ideas. We have to reconstruct the FECAFOOT structures in the regions and make them lively.