LIONS LOOM LARGE

Cameroon have no coach, their talismanic on-field leader has departed and they have limped along in recent qualifiers. Yet the bite of the Indomitable Lions is still to be feared as South Africa prepare to o play them backto-back in the African Nations Cup qualifiers. Two matches in Yaoundé and Durban will be played ed within five days of each other; Cameroon ameroon hosting the first and South Africa the second. German coachh Volker Finke, regarded as one of the most innovative thinkers of his generation, did not have his contract ntract renewed last October and a successor uccessor has been sought but not yet found. Alexandre Belinga,linga, who was caretaker coach when en Cameroon limped through the World rld Cup qualifiers against Niger in November, in spite of a flattering 3-00 aggregate scoreline, is not even confirmed as caretaker for the e double date with Bafana a Bafana, leaving preparation far from adequate. Samuel Eto’o is still playing at t the age of 34 (at t Antalyaspor in Turkey) but retired red from the international game after the debacle of the 2014 World Cup, leaving the Lions devoid of any quality stars. Yet Cameroon remain a country of considerable pedigree, with a rich tradition and many quality players. They are top of Group M despite needing late goals to beat both Mauritania and Gambia in their opening qualifying games. A single point for South Africa from their opening two qualifiers – against the same overtly modest opposition – has left Bafana with their backs to the wall and now in need of a miraculous resurgence. The equation is relatively simple, even if there are still two more rounds of qualification to come in June and September before the preliminaries for the 2017 finals in Gabon are completed. If Cameroon draws just one of the two matches against South Africa, they will almost