Clock ticking too fast for Indomitable Lionesses

Today Thursday, May 7, 2015 we are just 31 days away from the opening of the seventh FIFA Women’s World Cup with the opening match of the tournament slated for Edmonton, Canada on June 6, 2015.

The Cameroon women’s team swings into action two days later in Vancouver, taking to the pitch to face Ecuador shortly after the first match of the day between the current world champions, Japan and Switzerland.

The football world has since been swept into action and all things being equal, the talk of the day in sporting circles is about this important football event.

Little wonder the various teams are upbeat about their participation, making sure that all the necessary conditions are being considered to ensure victory or, at least, an honourable participation at the tournament.

While many teams have been playing friendly matches or getting adapting to the harsh North American weather conditions of the time by ensuring a long stay around the region before the competition, the Indomitable Lions, one of the three proud flag-bearers of the African continent, are still locked out at their training ground at Mbankomo!

Word is going round, yet to be confirmed by the nation’s football authorities, that departure is scheduled for May 15th instant. By all reckoning, that appears to be late, especially when the reasons for their stay aren’t necessary of the making of the technical staff or linked to any winning strategy.

Football watchers have insistently deplored the training environment at the camp site evoking situations in which selected players have even had to make do with any reliable or adequate supply of even drinking water while it is even said that many of the players have had to accept rickety offers of lodging in view of the difficulty of staying together under decent and acceptable conditions. The situation is blamed on the scarcity of money which is yet to be made available.

Time is running out and rather fast for the team if the nation expects an output which does not further ridicule our already waning football reputation, badly tarnished by the dispiriting performances of the men’s national football team in recent years.

The flashing outings of the women’s team in the eliminating phases of the competition, leading to qualification for the Canada event, had left a flicker of hope on which many Cameroonians were building to see the nation’s most cherished game gain back its glory of yore. But managers and all the stake-holders at different levels do not seem to share this concern and the need to get our football back on the rails.

Otherwise, what can explain that the initial preparatory plan proposed by the technical team overseeing the preparations which included a number of test games with reputed sparring partners or relocating to a site much closer to Canada long before now were simply phased out?

The same authorities do not seem to have drawn appropriate lessons from the failures of the male Indomitable Lions in recent outings, many of which are non-sporting reasons such as bursary-related questions, but which could greatly impact negatively on the over-all performance of the team.

From a purely-sporting consideration and from available documentation and statistics, Cameroon will have a difficult task sailing out of its group games; hence the need to ensure that all sporting preparation aspects of their training must be addressed with the highest expediency so as to avoid blaming any failures on trivial issues which could have been avoided in the first place.

It is said that Cameroonian teams function best in the heart of adversities. But those adversities that can be avoided need not be imposed on the players otherwise we turn an exceptional situation into a rule. With the virtual absence of a national female football championship to help the girls in their preparation, time is really running out and the powers that be ought to instantly address this hot potato dilemma.