Cameroon, Swiss sides look to impact on women's soccer back home

For Switzerland and Cameroon, making it to the second round of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup goes beyond just getting to stay in Canada for a while longer.

The future success of the women’s game back home is depended on the two countries having a strong showing at the tournament.

They have never been here before and will meet in their final group game Tuesday (3 p.m.) at Commonwealth Stadium with a spot into the knockout stages on the line.

“From the feedback we’ve been getting back home, more girls are getting interested in soccer because we are in this tournament,” said Cameroon head coach Enow Ngachu. “I’ve been receiving many, many messages of young Cameroonians wanting to play soccer. They are very excited, so I’ll try to organize calm when I go back home.”

Cameroon has a long history of international success in the men’s game, dating back to their first World Cup appearance in 1982. The Cameroon men did not lose a game at the World Cup tournament in Spain, but were still knocked out of the tournament in the group stage. Since then, they have been a regular fixture at the tournament.

The women’s game, however, is still in its infancy and Cameroon has come to Canada with a young squad looking to set a foundation.

The team qualified for the Women’s World Cup by finishing runners up to Nigeria at last year’s African Women’s Championship held in Namibia.

This year’s Women’s World Cup tournament is only the second major international tournament Cameroon has ever taken part in. They qualified for the 2012 Olympic tournament, losing all three games they played and getting outscored 11-1 in the process.

“We made many mistakes in the past and that is the reason why we’ve come here,” Ngachu said. “I’m quite confident that maybe in two or three years, we will be one of the big football nations in the world. We are still working and our objective here is to learn and we want to keep learning.” So far, Cameroon is proving a quick study.

They won their first match of the tournament, dispatching Ecuador 6-0 in Vancouver and then gave the defending Women’s World Cup champions, Japan, all they could handle in a 2-1 loss.

“Women’s football has been much better in Cameroon for the last two or three years,” said striker Gaelle Enganamouit. “With our participation in the World Cup, I think everything is going to change in Cameroon.

“The dream for everyone of us is to go to the second round. I think it’s a big thing in the world if Cameroon is able to get to the second round, nobody thought that was possible. We are going to do everything we can to get into the second round.”

A draw would probably be good enough to guarantee both Cameroon and Switzerland a spot in the second round.

With two wins in their pocket and their final group game against Ecuador, Japan is expected to win the group, leaving Cameroon and Switzerland to battle for second place. The four best third-place finishers in the 24-team tournament also advance.

“That was our goal before the tournament and I know that we can do it because we have the quality,” said Swiss head coach Maria Voss-Techlenburg. “It will great to go into the next round and we hope we can do it. It would be great to stay in Canada because it’s such a nice country.”

The Swiss are also making their Women’s World Cup debut and are starting to garner a lot of interest back home due to their early performances. “There is a of excitement right now in Switzerland,” said Swiss midfielder Ramona Bachmann.

“It wasn’t before, but once it was clear that we were going to the World Cup, there was a lot of media attention and a lot of stories were written in newspapers about us and there were a lot of profiles on us and things like that. Right now, they’ve seen we’re doing well and so they are writing a lot about us.”

Bachmann is one of the stars of the Swiss team and scored three goals against Ecuador in a 10-1 win in Vancouver on Friday.

She was also Switzerland’s most dangerous player in a 1-0 loss to Japan in their opener.

The 24-year-old is quickly becoming something she never had growing up in Malters, Switzerland — a female role model.

“I always liked Ronaldo from Brazil, and right now I like (Lionel) Messi,” Bachmann said. “I have more males as my idols, but I think it’s really nice that we can be an idol for young kids and I hope I can give them something and they can look up to me. Maybe they can see how hard you have to work to reach your dreams.”