Portugal-Cameroon - Lions Begin Training This Monday

The Indomitable Lions begin training today in Leira-Portugal ahead of the upcoming friendly encounter on Wednesday March 5th. After the training camp for home-based players, the technical staff of the team led by Volker Finke left the country on Saturday,

March 1st for Portugal where they were met by the bulk of the players later in the day. However, some of the players including the team captain, Samuel Eto'o, only arrived in Portugal yesterday after taking part in league matches with their respective clubs.

The encounter is the first of a series of friendly matches the Lions have to play as part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Team coach, Volker Finke published a shortlist of 23 players to take part in the encounter. The squad is not very much different from the one that took part in the last qualifier match against Tunisia but for the exclusion of Achille Webo due to injury. Quizzed on his choice of players, Volker Finke said he always tries to mix young and old players. More so, he prefers working with players who took part in the qualifying series and who manifest the zeal to play for Cameroon.

According to programme communicated by the Team Press Officer, Raphael Nkoa, effective training begins today with some relaxation exercises, to be followed by physical training exercises. Tomorrow the training will be focused on fine-tuning the tactical options. The squad will later tomorrow evening watch motion pictures on the past matches of the Portuguese national football team with their star striker, Christiano Ronaldo. On the sidelines of the friendly match, Cameroonian football authorities will also take time off to discuss with the players in view of establishing a common ground of understanding on the role to be played by everyone during the world cup campaign in Brazil.