Cameroon coach Volker Finke has confirmed that Stephane Mbia will start their Africa Cup of Nations Group D match against Guinea in Malabo on Saturday night.
The Sevilla player missed the Indomitable Lions’ 1-1 draw with Mali on Tuesday due to suspension and injury, but will certainly start the match against Guinea.
Finke has confirmed that the versatile Mbia will start in midfield in place of Eyong Enoh, who has been ruled out with injury, rather than in the heart of defence.
“Stéphane Mbia recovered from his injury and served his one-match suspension. He is ready, maybe not for 90 minutes but will definitely start. We don’t have a choice with Eyong Enoh ruled out,” said Finke in the build up to the Group D clash.
“He will play in the midfield and not at centre-back like during the qualifiers, with the absence of Enoh.”
The German tactician added that Cameroon need to show more discipline against a Guinea team that he sees as having great future potential.
“We need to be more disciplined. We must be ready to get a win in the last 10 minutes. We cannot run forward in the first 20 minutes and open ourselves to their counter-attacks. We need to work with discipline and focus. It is key to get a good result at the end,” said Finke.
“Guinea are a very young team, a team for the future. They have several players under 23 and some of them are only 19 and already first-team players in their clubs in Europe. Two of them are very dangerous including Ibrahima Traoré. The others are not big names but are good players, and we need to be wary and respect them.”
Kick-off at Nuevo Estadio de Malabo is set for 21h00 CAT.
