The Chia Report

Japan Cages Lions of Cameroon

By Innocent Chia

Cameroon has suffered the first upset of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to the Japanese, 0-1. The loss not only puts the team in a dire predicament in upcoming games against Denmark, who lost 0-2 to Netherlands, the loss confirms and raises a whole host of questions about individual talent versus team chemistry that are dogging Le Guen’s side. 

As Le Guen goes down in history as the first coach under whose care the Lions have lost an opening game at the World Cup since their first participation in 1982, his most immediate grief is how to turn the tides around immediately to guarantee successive victories in their next two group E outings. Did you say a tall order?

In the Den of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon

Innocent Chia

Visibly lost in the blare of the international mass media is any mention of Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, except for a cursory mention of the unlikeness of the team to qualify for the 8th finals in South Africa. The once revered Lions are beleaguered with a myriad of problems, not the least of which needed the travel and intervention – albeit later than sooner - of the Minister of Sports to the training camp in Portugal to assuage rising temperatures due to the unease created by the lurid criticism of team captain Eto’o Fils by the retired soccer legend, Roger Milla. The untoward criticism had me wondering about the motive and whether it has been demoralizing to the extent of causing waning support for the team.

J.P Tokoto: From Soccer Legend to Basketball Prodigy

By Jody Demling,The Courier-Journal

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — J.P. Tokoto might be a basketball phenom these days, but his athletic interest began on the pitch.

His grandfather and namesake, Jean-Pierre Tokoto, was the youngest soccer player ever named to the Cameroon national team — he was 15 — and played that sport professionally.

But the younger Tokoto, a 6-foot-6 forward from Menomonee Falls, Wis., and a target of the University of Kentucky, has made his name on the hardwood, ranking as a top-five high school basketball player in the Class of 2012.

Reading the Mind of Cameroon's Soccer Coach Paul Le Guen

By Innocent Chia
If he decided to quit his job this minute as head coach of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Paul Le Guen would have reason to say that he succeeded in the dual mission that he was assigned: He beat a stack of odds by qualifying the team for the Angola 2010 African Cup of Nations and simultaneously qualifying for the historic 2010 World Cup that South Africa will be hosting this summer. But his team has been far from indomitable. An esteemed senior colleague of mine, the brazen Jean Lambert Nang had gone as far as opining that Le Guen’s resume was too pale and his experience paltry for the team.  That notwithstanding, Le Guen has been making some pretty telling strategic moves in a manner that is revealing of someone who is mindful of the storied past of the Lions.

S . Cameroonian-American named Finalist for Heisman Trophy

Portland's own, Ndamukong Suh, named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy

Kari Chisholm

On Monday, a local kid named Ndamukong Suh was named one of five finalists for the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious individual award in college football (and, arguably, in all of sport.)

The selection of Suh, who went to Portland's Grant H.S. and now attends the University of Nebraska, is particular notable since it's almost unheard-of for a defensive player - especially one of those big grunts on the line - to earn a Heisman bid. (Since the days of playing both ways in leather helmets, only one defensive player has ever won - and only a handful have been finalists.) Suh would only be Portland's second-ever Heisman winner. (Oregon State's Terry Baker won in 1962.)

Continue reading story at http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/12/portlands-own-ndamukong-suh-named-a-heisman-finalist.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef012876309bba970c

Why Cameroon Vs Morocco was only partially broadcast on CRTV

By Innocent Chia
  Ask the top bras of Cameron Radio Television why it did not broadcast the World Cup 2010 qualifying encounter between the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and the Lions of Morocco?  Doubling as qualifying match to the 2010 African Cup of Nations, in the erstwhile civil-strife beleaguered South Central African country of Angola, CRTV had all but closed the deal on purchasing the broadcasting rights to the highly anticipated encounter. The price tag of half a million dollars ($520,000) or a over quarter billion CFA (268 million FCFA) was not the issue. As only the Chiareport can reveal, protégés of the Biya legacy had the final word and it was not about football…

Lions of Cameroon: Indomitable or Vulnerable?

By Innocent Chia

It was a jostle, but a jostle all the same, by the Togolese flying Hawks led by Arsenal star Adebayor that brought the Lions of Cameroon to bended knee. The defeat put the team on an official losing streak, including the 0-1 loss to Egyptian Pharaohs at the African Cup of Nations in February of 2008. Among several disturbing facts about the collection of stars that is yet to jell as a team, consider this fact: It has gone scoreless in both games, in spite fielding Europe’s top scorer in the person of Eto’o Fils.

Will the foursome that has been charged with coaching the team turn a new leaf or, is this all old wine in new wine skin? Will there be any air left to breathe in the room after it is filled up by their respective egos? How about the players? Will the coaches work with what they have and use it as leverage to blame Otto Pfister who had had enough of Cameroon’s baloney?

Ivory Coast fans blame police for deadly stampede

 AP – Men carry out an injured spectator following a stadium stampede at a World Cup qualifying match between …

By BENOIT HILI, Associated Press Writer Benoit Hili, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 30, 6:15 pm ET

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Fans who survived a deadly stadium stampede in the Ivory Coast blamed police Monday for the tragedy, saying security forces provoked the panic by tear gassing people who had nowhere to run.

World soccer body FIFA called for a prompt investigation into the stampede Sunday at Abidjan's Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena that left 19 people dead and injured more than 130. The president of Ivory Coast declared a three-day period of mourning.

Celebrating Cameroon’s 0-1 Loss against Togo

By Innocent Chia
After losing 0-1 against Egypt at the African Championship Cup finals in Ghana last year (February 2008), fanatics and connoisseurs of Cameroon’s football alike joined in asking that Song Bahanack be ejected from the squad. He was invisible in his position as the last defender before the keeper. The back stopper and team captain of the Lions was seen more times playing an offensive role than anyone with soccer acumen would have cared for. It is this indiscipline that has left Song Bahanack wondering from club to club and never settling anywhere for more than two seasons. Yet, he has succeeded in making himself irreplaceable as a teammate and captain of the Indomitable Lions, in a country that has plenty to offer at the local and international level.