Cameroon coach under pressure after AFCON exit

Volker Finke’s days as Cameroon coach could be over after a winless group stage exit at the Africa Cup of Nations, football officials hinted.

“Something will be done immediately about the technical staff,” the president of the Normalisation Committee of the Cameroon Football Federation, Joseph Owona, said.

The Indomitable Lions’ fate was sealed when they lost 1-0 to Ivory Coast Wednesday in Equatorial Guinea, going out with two draws and one defeat from Group D.

Finke has been in charge of Cameroon since 2013 and is rebuilding the team after a winless World Cup elimination last year. Wednesday’s loss was Cameroon’s first since the World Cup.

“We tried really hard. Everyone gave their best, so that’s why we can’t say the team didn’t try to the end,” Finke said.

Captain Stephane Mbia said he was disappointed that the team could’t proceed to the knockout stage, but insisted that there was reason to be positive. “I think we should be looking forward because the team is young and the best is yet to come,” he said.

Junior national team coach Engelbert Mbarga says Cameroon could pay an even heavier price if the German is sacked.

“He might have committed some tactical errors,but the important thing is that he is building a new team. I think we need to be patient with the trainer and the players,” Mbarga told dpa.

Even during the unbeaten qualifying session in autumn Finke had insisted that the reforms he was carrying out in the squad were more for future sustainability and not just for immediate victories.

“If we qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations,it would be a surprise,because we are trying to build a new team with younger players,” he said at the time. “But we are looking at the future.”

Cameroon, who won back-to-back Afcon titles in 2000 and 2002, will be looking to do well in 2019 at the latest, when they host the tournament.