AFCON 2025 qualifiers: Uninspiring Lions maintain unbeaten run with Namibia Warriors draw.

This was during the first of two Group J matches in the last but one round of matches in the pool’s qualification campaign. 

The five-time continental champions who headed into the Warriors match riding on the comfort of an early qualification ticket picked last month, recorded the result after bravely standing strong to handle the hitherto hungry-chasing host team. 

The virgin draw had captain Vincent Aboubakar and the Lions moving 11points on the tally ahead of the outfit’s final game of the series set for Tuesday November 19, when the team takes on Zimbabwe at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde. 

The Lions comfortable sit top of the pool with 10points ahead of the Brave Warriors of Namibia who are already out of the qualification race after harvesting one point in five matches. 

The side stands three points and seven points above the Zimbabwean Warriors and the Harambee Stars of Kenya who have eight points and four points and occupy the second and third positions respectively ahead of their match day five showdown in South Africa tomorrow. 

Lions extend unbeaten run

The main talking point after yesterday’s match is the Lions unbeaten run in the qualifying race.

Avoiding defeat on the hands of the Namibians on Wednesday meant the team is still to concede a loss since the start of the ongoing qualifiers to the Morocco 2025 showpiece.

The Lions have three victories in the series. Two of those victories were recorded against the Harambee Stars of Kenya in the third and fourth rounds of the qualifiers played last month. 

Uninspiring Johannesburg performance 

Despite the overall positive reaction provoked by the side’s success of avoiding defeat after having failed to train in South Africa and arriving the country barely 20 hours before match due to issues blamed on administrative setbacks, questions are still being asked about the side’s performance in the game.

The Indomitable Lions had an extremely shaky performance against the Namibian Warriors during yesterday game, according to pundits and football experts.

The team dominated play during a greater duration of the match and came out with a comfortable 63 percentage ball possession rate. But the team in the course of the match, showed a series of lapses in its defensive, midfield and attacking compartments. 

Head coach, Marc Brys, who started the game making a massive switch from his now traditional 4.1.4.1 system to a 4.4.2 format, registered 10 shots in the course of the match.

But the frontline anchored by team captain Vincent Aboubakar and Toulouse Football Club forward, Frank Magri, failed to get the ball into the net. 

Just two of the team’s 10 shots went on target with one of those two being a 67th minute effort made by substitute Georges Kevin Nkoudou whose strike was excellently pushed back by the Namibian goalkeeper, Edward Maova. 

The Indomitable Lions team which also played the game without three of its regulars; midfielders Frank Zambo Anguissa and Carlos Baleba and winger Bryan Mbeumo, also disturbing allowed a total 15 shots from the hosts. 

Although just one of the shots; a 41st minute strike by the host’s leader: Peter Shalulile went on target, the performance raised questions about the effectiveness of team’s defense and the midfield areas where Leganes’ Yvan Neyou was notably drafted in as one of the starters to fill the vacuums created by the multiple absences.

The hosts consistently threatened the Lions in the course of the match, notably missing two scoring opportunities against the five-time African champions in the opening 90 seconds of the match.

Brys returns to poor away form 

Overall, Wednesday’s draw entailed Belgian trainer, Marc Brys remains unbeaten across all competitions since picking up the top Indomitable Lions coaching job seven months ago.

The tactician now has four victories and three draws following seven matches played in the qualifiers to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the qualifying race to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

But only just one of the four victories having come from an away match, yesterday’s result meant the Belgian trainer consolidates a poor run away from home.

The trainer’s lone away victory as the head coach of the Indomitable Lions remains the 1-0 victory recorded against the Harambee Stars of Kenya in Kampala last month in the fourth round of the AFCON qualifiers. 

The victory confirmed Cameroon’s early qualification for the 2025 continental showpiece which will take place in Morocco between December next year and January 2026.

 This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3290 of Thursday November 14, 2024