If Germany retain the World Cup next year, then perhaps this was the night that laid the groundwork. Chile will ask themselves how they lost this Confederations Cup final after they missed a number of chances and let in Lars Stindl for the winning goal with a defensive slip. But it was a triumphant night for Joachim Low and a group of players he opted to test run this summer ahead of the bigger challenge in 2018; he now has 11 months to sift through a more battle-hardened set of options than any other international coach has at his disposal.

Chile started at a ferocious tempo and carved Germany open within five minutes. Excellent work from Arturo Vidal freed Charles Aranguiz but, with the midfielder poised to pull the trigger, Antonio Rudiger executed a perfect tackle. The ball stayed alive and Vidal’s low drive was kept out by the legs of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The early onslaught continued, Vidal and Eduardo Vargas both trying their luck. It was near-incessant pressure and in the 19th minute Alexis Sanchez missed a glorious chance. He seemed certain to convert after Ter Stegen parried from Vidal but, perhaps taking his eye off the ball, failed to make a clean contact.

Within seconds Sanchez was made to pay. Germany had barely laid a glove on Chile but took the lead with a gift of a goal, Marcelo Diaz allowing Timo Werner to rob him of possession just outside his own box. Werner squared to Stindl for the simplest of tap-ins; nobody could say this turn of events had seemed remotely likely.

It was a shock to Chile; they began to huff and puff, and Leon Goretzka might twice have doubled Germany’s lead before half-time. First the in-form Schalke player fired across goal from Sebastian Rudy’s smart pass, then he was denied well by Claudio Bravo after Julian Draxler had capitalised on another lapse.

Draxler, surging through before a lunging Gonzalo Jara deflected his shot wide, threatened 10 minutes into the second half and Germany looked more than capable of picking off their older opponents on the counter. Chile were becoming fractious and Jara received a let-off when, after appearing to elbow Werner, a lengthy VAR review led to nothing more than a yellow card.

Tempers raised even further when, 15 minutes from time, Sanchez went down in the box after colliding with Rudy. Vidal shot over from the loose ball but Chile’s players furiously claimed a penalty and urged referee Milorad Mazic to review using the VAR. To their disgust, he failed to oblige although more conventional replays suggested Sanchez did not have a case.

Chile rallied for one last push, Ter Stegen tipping wide from Aranguiz, and then they missed their final big chance. Substitute Angelo Sagal had a gaping net to fire into when fellow replacement Edson Puch squared past a committed Ter Stegen, but he blazed over and with that wayward finish went his side’s hopes.

Source: ESPNFC

Cameroon captain, Benjamin Moukandjo is confident that they will beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Cameroon and Nigeria face off in a doubleheader in August/September for the top spot in Group B of African qualifiers.

Cameroon are second in the group after two games with two points while Nigeria top with six points. The Indomitable Lions just left Russia, venue of next year’s FIFA World Cup where they played in the FIFA Confederation Cup.

“We showed that we’ve got quality, but obviously, we’ve still got work to do if we’re going to trouble the big boys,” Moukandjo told FIFA official website of Cameroon’s Confederation Cup results, losing to Chile and Germany and getting a draw against Australia all in the Group Stage. “We’ve got a young team that’s only just getting acquainted with international competitions.”

Moukandjo is confident that they can return to Russia next year for the FIFA World Cup at the expense of the Super Eagles. “We’ve now got a better idea of where we stand, which will help us come back stronger next year and target the World Cup with a lot more going for us,” he added.

Source: Vanguard

Announced everywhere since the beginning of the transfer window, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may eventually leave Europe. According to the authoritative German news magazine, Bild, the Dortmund striker is moving closer to a deal in China.

The Tianjin Quanjin seems to have decided to take out their heavy artillery in order to recruit the top scorer of the last Bundesliga season. Shu Yuhui, the rich president of the club, is ready to offer more than 80 million euros to the Borussia player.

The 28-year-old Gabonese international would be offered an annual salary of 30 million euros-an astronomical proposal that would make him the highest-paid player in the world, ahead of Ezequiel Lavezzi (27.5 million).

In eastern China, Aubameyang would evolve under the command of Fabio Cannavaro alongside Axel Wistsel and certainly Anthony Modeste if he is about to join the Tianjin club.

Camcordnews Desk

Cameroon need to improve their football infrastructure if they want to compete with the world’s top teams, coach Hugo Broos said following their Confederations Cup exit. Despite winning the African Nations Cup in February, Broos added that the five-times continental champions had to stop living on their past success and face reality.

Cameroon were knocked out of the tournament in Russia on Sunday after a 3-1 defeat to Germany left them with one point from three matches, an outcome which Broos said he had been expecting. The Indomitable Lions are also struggling to qualify for next year’s World Cup, having taken only two points from their first two games in African Group B to leave them four behind leaders Nigeria. Only the winners qualify.

“It was not a surprise for me. I always said after we won the Nations Cup that we are one of the best teams in Africa but there is still a difference between us and modern football,” Broos told reporters after Sunday’s defeat.
“We saw the proof that a lot of work still needs to be done… it is of course a quality issue, but it’s mostly a training issue,” the Belgian said. “There is a lot to be done on that front in Cameroon, we still live on our past successes.”

Broos, who was appointed in February last year after seeing the job advertised on the Cameroon federation’s website, has had to endure administrative problems during his 18 months in charge. Several top European-based players refused call-ups for the Nations Cup, either because they were angry at past experiences with the team or feared losing their places with their club sides.

In March, the team sat down for a meal at a hotel in Brussels ahead of a friendly against Guinea only to be told they could not eat because the bill had not been paid. They later lost the match 2-1. Broos noted that the Cameroon squad at the 2003 Confederations Cup had players based with “Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool” which was “no longer the case”. “I am not pointing the finger at any player, I’m just pointing to the training issues in Cameroon,” he said.

“There is a lack of pitches, there is a lack of infrastructure in the country which is why it is impossible in to train good footballers for modern football, so this is our main disadvantage. “If we do qualify for the World Cup next year, we are going to have to start thinking about solving this problem for the future.”

Soucre: DNA

The memory of Marc-Vivien Foe who died during the 2003 Confederations Cup remains in the hearts of Cameroonian players, says midfielder Arnaud Djoum. The African champions returned to the competition after a 14-years absence; the last time being when the sad incident occured.

Foe collapsed and died during Cameroon’s semi-final against Colombia in Lyon, with an autopsy later revealing that the 28-year-old suffered from the rare heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Djoum who now plays in the same position for the Indomitable Lions and wears the same jersey number late Foe wore revealed that the team carries the memory of the player with them as they compete in this year’s Confederations Cup.

“Our side, we also play for him because he was a really good person, a big player for our country and someone really important,” Djoum told Omnisport ahead of Cameroon’s final Group B game against Germany, where they must beat the world champions to have any chance of progressing.

“We try not to speak too much about it because it was a tragedy, but we know we are here also for him, for his family and for everybody. “So we try to show good football and performances for him. Of course, I was only young [when Foe played] but I looked up to him. He was a big player.”

Source: Vanguard

Australia and Cameroon played out a 1-1 stalemate at the Confederations Cup on Thursday that further dents both countries’ hopes of progressing in the eight-team tournament in Russia.

Andre Franck Zambo Anguissa had Cameroon ahead with the last touch of the first half, but a Mark Milligan penalty on the hour mark ensured a first point for both in Group B at the new Saint Petersburg Stadium.

Australia play Chile in Moscow on Sunday and Cameroon face off against Germany at the same time in Sochi in their final pool matches.

But the chances for both the African and Asian champions to finish in the top two and progress to the semifinals look slim after they lost their opening encounters at the start of the week.

Culled from DNA

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has laughed off Cameroon’s idea of Australian football as the two nations prepare for their first meeting on a football pitch. The African and Asian champions meet in the Confederations Cup in St Petersburg on Friday (1:00am AEST).

Both suffered first-up losses in the tournament. Another defeat will send that team home. With no first-hand history and such high stakes, it is only natural that both sides would engage in opposition research for the match.
But Postecoglou feels Cameroon coach Hugo Broos’s scouting report has Australia all wrong. In his press conference on Wednesday, Broos raised a few eyebrows with his description of the Socceroos’ mode of play. “Australia likes to play very direct with not many combinations and they try to be ASAP at goal,” Broos said.

That line is at odds with any assessment of recent Socceroos matches — and the opinion of Germany coach Joachim Loew. Loew praised Australia’s development after their tournament opener, won 3-2 by the Germans.
“I think they have developed very well in the last three or four years,” Loew said. “They do more combinations, not playing the long ball … it’s a team that is courageous and sometimes cheeky enough to challenge the opponents and attack very boldly.”

Postecoglou’s response to Broos suggested he knew which side of the debate he fell on. “I don’t know what [Broos is] watching but from our perspective we certainly know how we want to play our football,” he said. “The World Cup-winning coach saw it differently. You’ve got two contrasting opinions, you can choose to believe him or not.”

Source: ABC

Samuel Eto’o is in the house. Although he seems to have come dressed as Will.i.am. The Cameroonian striker is watching over his compatriots. And looking fly at the same time.

Unity and hard work are the Africans’ greatest assets

“We’ve all become firm friends,” explained skipper Benjamin Moukandjo

The first thing that becomes obvious to anyone spending time with the Cameroon squad that has travelled to Russia to take part in the 2017 Confederations Cup is the strong friendship that appears to unite the reigning African champions.

“When it’s just us, we tell jokes and make fun of each other, but once we’re out on the training pitch, everything gets serious again – we know when we need to get down to work,” forward Benjamin Moukandjo explained in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com in the Moscow hotel where Les Lions Indomptables have decided to base themselves ahead of their opening match with Chile today.

Magic ingredient

“I’ve been coaching for 29 years and I’ve never had a squad like this before,” the man at the helm, Hugo Bross, said earlier this year at the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, from which his charges emerged victorious. “I keep telling them every day that they have something they need to cherish – and that’s friendship. They’re genuine friends, and you don’t often get that in a football team.”

Moukandjo smiled, nodding in agreement at his coach’s assessment. “Over time, and especially during the Cup of Nations campaign, we all became firm friends,” said the Lorient attacker. “We headed off to the tournament as a team, but while we were there we became a family.”

Source: FIFA.com