Indomitable Lions: Fruits Of Determination

Commentary.

“You form a block as solid as the rock.” These words by President Paul Biya to the Indomitable Lions yesterday 8 February, 2017 at the Unity Palace during a reception in honour of their exploits at the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, in Gabon summarise the general perception of what the boys demonstrated to the nation at the competition. Emerging victorious, as overall champions of the tournament in Gabon, left many amazed at their performance given that few sports fans had faith in the Lions at the onset of the competition.
A cocktail of occurrences left the players with the impression that they were only going to Gabon to distribute points. For the past 15 years, the Indomitable Lions have remained stagnant and in some cases falling far below expectations. In fact, they were absent from the last two AFCON jamborees.  Their performance at the last FIFA football World Cup in Brazil was so dismal that they left as the last in the entire competition. Some of the players simply throw honour to the dogs, virtually falling short of fighting amongst themselves on the pitch.
The recent performance of the female Football team at the 2016 AFCON in Cameroon appeared to have complicated matters for their male counterparts. The ladies came out as vice champions and fast-tracked fading public interest for the males. Such negative results led to a morose atmosphere within the Lions’ den to the extent that some key players boycotted the team. Various attempts by the new team coach, Hugo Broos to bring them back to the team yielded no fruits. That created a further sense of defeat and doubts with many believing that the Indomitable Lions were simply going to mark their name in Gabon.
However, faced with growing disenchantment from the public and fans, the coach remained sanguine albeit measured. In several occasions, he announced that his bet was for the Lions to attain at least the quarter finals of the competition. Instead of galvanising the public with such statements, ardent critics interpreted his declaration as defeatist saying he ought to aim at the trophy if the team was good enough.
Finally, here we are as the next host of the AFCON in 2019 that will be coming heads high as defending champions. The youthful exuberance of the players and their sense of determination all account for the generalised sense of renewed confidence that they have rekindled in the population. Their resolve to stay focused on the trophy obliged them to maintain team cohesion, ignore any negative criticisms and rejection. Even intermittent stories of poor match bonuses never deterred the ...