Coach Thomas Libih has finally opened up to speak about the way the Cameroon team a has been treated by opponents in the ongoing 2019 Total Under 17 AFCON.
This comes after some opponents and even match officials have targeted his team in the tournament on multiple occasions making comments and decisions that destabilizes the team.
The president of the Moroccan football federation who doubles as an executive member of CAF Faouzi Lekjaa with simple eye observation without being a medical expert concluded that a Cameroonian player who had passed the medical examination for the tournament on multiple occasions was over-aged.
The Coach of the Angola National side Pedro Soares launched a campaign against Cameroon’s physicality in the build up to the semi final game against Cameroon prompting the referee of the game to send off Ndzie Fabrice of Cameroon for a second bookable offense with just 2 minutes played in the second half of the game;a decision considered by Thomas Libih to be a punishment on his team as they played over 45 minutes in the semi final game with just 10 players. Ndzie will be out of the final leaving Cameroon with just 17 players ( 15 outfield players) to pick from for the second time in the tournament.
“I don’t like to talk about referees but the treatment we get here because of nature is not a fair one,anyone who knows the history of our Country’s football will know Cameroonians are very huge and physical by nature,why are our kids punished because of nature? see officiating in the semi final,my team was punished. I don’t know any supermarket in Paris or New York were someone goes and buys a huge size look at our technical bench,a majority of us are giants, even when I played football we were like this or bigger in the different national teams”. ”What we are experiencing here breaks my heart, our kids are put in a very difficult situation but we remain focused for the final” Thomas Libih told reporters in the mix zone in the build up to the final game of the tournament.
Cameroon without Ndzie Fabrice will face Guinea in the final and in the second time in the tournament this Sunday at the national stadium in Dar Es Salaam. Their meeting earlier in the tournament ended on a 2 nil score for the baby Lions on the 15th of April 2019 in Chamazi.
Cameroon has one of the best fitness coach in the country in Olivier Nankam who warm up alone speaks volumes about how hard the team works.
The team is the only unbeaten team still in the running to win the crown again since the country last did so in 2003.
Angu Lesley
@AnguLelsey on Twitter
