Chronic. Fifty years ago, I discovered Africa, this continent fantasized since my earliest childhood, at the heart of my father’s political discussions, eternal resistant and combating in all struggles of independence. It was in December 1971. I was the attacker of AC Ajaccio and with some partners – Marius Trésor, Sansonetti, Dortomb – we went to Congo-Brazzaville help our teammates did and Balekita prepare for the cup Nations (CAN) organized the following year … in Cameroon.
Never the indomitable lions had hosted a Cup of Africa. During this tournament, from Yaoundé to Bamenda, De Douala in Kribi, from Maroua to Bangangté, all over the country, the griots, the fetats, the “mandators” sang the praises of their lions. How a team that counted in his ranks Joseph (so far as he was the center of Olympique Marseille), “the general” Ndoumbé, “the brain” MVÉ, “the artist” Tokoto or “The Roc” Akono would have could it be terraced? Las, the Marabouts seem, it seems, not quite invoked the old. During the semifinal against the Congo, a red devil marked at 34 e instantly the hopes of the whole nation.
Curious parallel Cameroon-Brazil
The trauma of March 2, 1972, it is still told each day in the Bassa, Ewondo, Bamileke, Douala or Relevals of Cameroon. In the “maquis”, these neighborhood restaurants where you eat chicken or braised fish, we did tirelessly the history of the match. We point the bad fetats, the psychological fragility of some players, the international inexperience of Peter Schnittger, the yet remarkable German coach.
The parallel is often done with the final of the Brazil-Uruguay World Cup of 1950 that the Seleção lost, thus foaming all the predictions, before the 200,000 spectators of the maracana in a state of hearing. And again, in 2014, for its second world home, Brazil will experience the humiliation against Germany in the semifinal (1-7) to … Belo Horizonte, the misapportion. Second burning failure.
Today, the more the CAN maturity has moved closer, the more the “hanger” has settled to see the story stammer, to know the same fate as the Brazilians. We are constantly returning to this curious parallel Cameroon-Brazil, two countries which, in terms of results, dominate the world, the other Africa. Moreover, just before the CAN, do not the indomitable Lions atomized the Red Devils of the Congo 7-1? The same score that had seen Germany humiliate Brazil.
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