Doha: Cameroon return to FIFA World Cup to continue setting a record in the number of participations for an African country, when they compete in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, amid hopes of repeating the achievement of qualifying for the quarterfinals after their absence from the last edition held in Russia four years ago.
Cameroon will compete in the finals for the eighth time, but their squad in the World Cup in Qatar has a little of the charisma of their previous teams, which gained attention around the world for their stubborn style of play and the strength of players.
Cameroon will compete in Group G, which includes Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland, and will start their campaign against Switzerland on November 24 at Al Janoub Stadium.
In their second match, Cameroon will face Serbia on November 28 at Al Janoub Stadium, before concluding their campaign in the group stage with the most difficult confrontation with Brazil on December 2 at Lusail Stadium.
With a group that includes three strong teams, Cameroon await a difficult task in the World Cup in Qatar, despite the fact that many of their players have experience at the highest level in major European leagues.
The Cameroonian Football Federation chose Banyan Tree Hotel in La Cigale Msheireb, located in the heart of capital Doha, as the venue for the team’s residence during the Qatar World Cup, provided that it trains at the Al Sailiya Club Stadium.
Cameroon qualified for the World Cup in Qatar after a long and difficult journey, as they began their matches in the fourth group of African qualifiers along with the teams of Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Malawi, and succeeded in leading their group with 15 points, to qualify for the decisive final round.
In the final round of qualifiers, Cameroon were drawn against Algeria, who succeeded in winning the first leg in Cameroon 1-0, and in the second match in Algeria, the match time ended with Cameroon winning 1-0, so that the two teams resorted to extra time.
In extra time, Algeria scored the equalizer in the 118th minute, and everyone believed that Algeria was on their way to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar 2022, but Lyon’s French striker Karl Toko Ekambi scored a fatal goal in (120+4 minute). He granted Cameroon a transit visa for the World Cup.
Cameroon are playing in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals for the eighth time in their history, after 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014, to enhance their record as the most African team to reach the World Cup finals.
Cameroon achieved their best result in the World Cup finals in Italy in 1990, led by their star Roger Milla, when they were the first African team to reach the quarterfinals after achieving a series of victories, starting with a win over Argentina in the opening match.
Then, Cameroon beat Romania 2-1 to qualify for the second round and overcame the obstacle of Colombia 2-1 before losing in extra time against England 2-3 in the quarterfinal.
However, Cameroon were eliminated from the first round in the other six qualifications.
At the continental level, the Cameroonian national team is ranked second in the list of the most winning teams in the Africa Cup of Nations with five titles, in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017, and were runners-up twice, in 1986 and 2008.
Cameroon also won the gold medal for the soccer competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Throughout their long history, Cameroon have distinguished players who starred in European stadiums, most notably Samuel Eto’o, the historical scorer for his country with 56 goals, and Roger Milla the old fox, Cameroon’s top scorer in the history of World Cup with 5 goals, and who has the number of the oldest player (42 years) who scored a goal in the history of the World Cup.
Rigobert Song stands out as the most participating player in internationally with 137 matches, Francois Omam-Biyik as the most representative player for the national team in the World Cup finals with 11 matches and Gregoire M’Bida, who scored the first goal for Cameroon in the finals, without forgetting Kanna Beck, Emmanuel Kunde, and goalkeeper Joseph Antoine Bell and Patrick Mboma.
Source: QNA
