BY Afeseh Apong/Angu Lesley
Sports Writers kick442.com, Cameroon.
The President of 16-times Cameroon champions Cotonsport of Garoua, Fernand Sadou, has given insides on happenings within his club, as they gear up for the new football season in Cameroon and actively involved in the CAF inter_club competition.
Cotonsport played a goalless draw against Al Masry on Sunday in Garoua, but remain optimistic going into their last five group C games.
In an exclusive interview with kick442.com in Garoua on Monday, president Fernand Sadou gave clear explanations on the club’s transfer policy, their ambitions and their recent meeting with CAF and other African clubs, to discuss the CAF super league project.
Journalist: president of 16-times Cameroon champions, thanks for talking to kick442.com. first, we are getting towards to start of the new football season in Cameroon, how ready is your team and what targets have been set for this season?
Fernand Sadou : “As you rightly said Cotonsport is multiple Cameroon league Winner and many time Cameroon cup Winner. This new football season, we have been preparing very well. You know we’re engaged in the CAF Confederation, which means we didn’t have time to rest. We continued working, reinforced the team and are trying to prepare through friendly games. So we’re preparing well, we have already registered all our players in the TMS/ FIFA Connect system, so we’re ready to start the season.
“Our objective as always, is to go in for a domestic double. Cotonsport has always done that, but it has been some years now that we have not won a domestic double (league and Cameroon cup), but our objective is to be Cameroon champions and win the Cameroon cup.
Journalist: At the end of last season, many players left the team and now the team is made up of young players most of them coming from the Club’s academy. Can we say the team is undergoing reconstruction?
Fernand Sadou : “When you look at the team that played against Al Masry, it is not a totally young team. They’re players who were already here with the former players. We did not send players away as many think, rather we had players whose contracts ended and they didn’t want to continue with the club. We could not force them. We also have players who had proposals elsewhere and we could not block them. You know when you have a good Continental campaign, players attract interest from other clubs and at that level you can not stop players from going for better offers elsewhere. The only player who left through that route, after the CAF Confederation cup adventure of last season, was Lambert Gueme Araina. The others were at the end of their contracts and others were no longer giving what we expected of them. We also had disciplinary problems. When there’s indiscipline, we have to hit hard because indiscipline will bring poor results. An example is Goalkeeper Nlend ( Narcisse). He is a very good goalkeeper, but we had problems because he was indiscipline towards the technical staff. So you have to hit hard, that’s how we act. There are many players who went because of indiscipline and others who were at the end of their contracts and did not want to renew, that’s why we have a youthful squad. They’re young be will gain experience. Our big problem is that the league has not started. We are going for an international competition, without game time in our legs because the league has not started. That is our veritable problem. As far as we’re not getting a solution for that, it will always be difficult for teams going in for international competitions. That has been the problem for years now. If not, the team you saw against Al Masry, if we were in active competition, we could have done better. We have played friendly matches, but that’s not sufficient, we need serious competition that will permit the children to give in their best. I think with the coming of Samuel Eto’o, I have hopes that we will start the championship and it will go till the end and in good conditions, that’s my wish. Football is no longer on the pitch, and is more in Tribunals.we have to return to the pitch.
Journalist: Recently we saw a picture of you with president of other big clubs in Africa. What could have been the point of discussion amongst you?
Fernand Sadou : “Cotonsport was invited by CAF for an important meeting and best clubs in Africa for the last ten years. Cotonsport was the only Cameroonian club, and the meeting was to talk about the African Super League. We discussed on the model how it will happen, the method and how the programming will be done, because we have many competitions and we have to make it in such a way that everything goes in good conditions. So we worked and used the opportunity to create contacts with other big clubs in the continent like TP Mazembe, Simba, Horoya, Vita club, Pyramid, Al Ahly amongst others, so it was a high level meeting. The super league is in gestation and I think it will be good for the clubs and also permit to stabilize players in Africa.
Journalist: Talk to us a bid about the programming and how the Super League will be organized, in relation to your working session with CAF.
Fernand Sadou : “we had PowerPoint presentations and we were given the format, but I can not give you clear elements about it. The documents will be sent to us, the propositions will be made.
Journalist: There are Rumours that the super league will come and replace the the CAF Champions League and Confederation cup.
Fernand Sadou : “No it will instead be a supplementary competition, with will associate the best clubs of the champions league and Confederation cup. The best thing about it is that it will be played in Zones, like the UNNIFAC Zone, etc. It will be well program, so that it doesn’t perturbed the global program of other competitions.
Journalist: Back to the CAF Confederation cup, Cotonsport drew at home against Al Masry but still have five group games, can we Cotonsport reach the same stage as they did last season?
Fernand Sadou : The boys are capable of doing better, but they need enough game time. We tried organizing local tournaments with times like Sahel and Gazelle. We played a draw game against Al Masry, but I’m optimistic. Last season it was the same thing, when these children see the maghrebian players, they have the impression that they’re more than them. It’s only later that they understand that it is possible, so for me there is no big difference with the team of last season. It is the same team that qualified us for the group stage and I think with the reinforcements that we have made, we can do better. We brought in five players, amongst which are two Nigerians, two congolese, one Togolaise and Cameroonians such as Tazoh. Tazoh could have even played against Al Masry, but I don’t know why the coach did not use him. There are lots of young guys who can do things. Youngsters like Patient Wassou Goue and Moussa Mubarak were used in the game, and I think we can do Better.
Experienced forward Daouda Kamilou came in as a second half substitute against Al Masry. Though he couldn’t help his side secure all three points, president Fernand Sadou hint at a big project for the veteran forward, who has spend more than a decade with the club.
“We are thinking about him. He is already out son. He is there as a leader. You saw it when he came in, he tried to guide the players and we created many chances, so we have a project for him.
Cotonsport will next play two away games against AS Otoho and TP Mazembe, in the CAF Confederation cup, as they await the date for the kickoff of the Cameroon league one championship.
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