Frankly Speaking

By Franklin Sone Bayen

Our qualification and greater ambitions for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should not in anyway blunt our lethal power at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola. This country has often been hard put to manage both tournaments in the same year. It is as though World Cup euphoria downplays Nations Cup importance.

Excepting 2002 when we won the Nations Cup even as we were in for the World Cup, the story has been bleak from 1982, through 1990, 1998. In 1994 when we took part in the USA World Cup, we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup. Conversely, we were out of World Cup 2006 but failed to reach the top in the Nations Cup. We stumbled before the Ivory Coast at the quarter-finals after penalty shootout.

In 1982, we had a disastrous Nations Cup in Libya prior to an unprecedented wonderful World Cup for Africa when we went undefeated, conceded only one goal in three group stage games and played a draw with eventual World Cup winners, Italy.

Meanwhile, glory was all ours barely two years later when we won the Nations Cup for the first time in 1984. Of course, that was not a World Cup year. In 1986 when we did not qualify for the World Cup, we had another wonderful Nations Cup, stumbling only at the final in a hard fought game with hosts Egypt. Likewise, in 1988, a non-World Cup year, the show was again all ours. We won the cup.

Next, the memorable 1990 World Cup and again the Nations Cup that year was a fiasco. Meanwhile, after another unmemorable Nations Cup in 1992, our worst Nations Cup-World Cup story was in 1994 when we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup and later witnessed our worst World Cup in the US.

South Africa 1996, though not a World Cup year, was a Nations Cup many Cameroonians hate to remember. But France 1998, another Nations Cup-World Cup year for us, equally brought a vexing Nations Cup experience. We were licked by half-baked teams like the DR Congo, who knocked us out at the quarter finals.

As the Song-Mboma-Eto’o-Etame-Njitap generation ripened, they renewed Cameroon’s romance with Nations Cup glory in 2000, defeating our traditional Nations Cup final sparring partners Nigeria in their own backyard to take the cup home for keeps according to the former three wins rule. That same generation it was, that defied the Nations Cup-World Cup spell to play great in the 2002 Nations Cup in Mali. They won the cup a fourth time, though they were headed for the Japan-Korea, our last combined Nations Cup-World Cup year.

Here we are again with both tourneys to manage. SA 2010, Africa’s first World Cup, is ours to grab. But Nations Cup 2010 is equally a must-do for us. It comes nearly a decade since we last won the trophy.

The World Cup, we wish to win, and yes, we can. But the Nations Cup we already know how to win. Unquestionably, we must win it again. We cannot lie on our laurels when Egypt’s six wins have dwarfed our four. For that matter, going to the World Cup with a Nations Cup title in hand should be a big morale booster. Whatever distracts our team during the twin tourney years, they should be reminded that, in any case, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

This posting first featured as Editorial in my sport supplement "This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL! on the back cover of Standard Tribune currently on the market