By David Gold
September 14 – Cameroon have dismissed coach Denis Lavagne following a disastrous Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tie defeat to tiny Cape Verde.
The French-born manager (pictured) only took charge of Cameroon last year, tasked with restoring the nation’s fortunes after missing out on this year’s continental tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
However, Cameroon embarrassingly lost to the islanders 2-0 in a 2013 qualifier last week and this defeat, added to an indifferent start to its FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, sealed Lavagne’s fate.
Jean-Paul Akono – who led the Indomitable Lions to Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 – has been appointed as the interim coach with Martin Ntoungou Mpile as his assistant.
Akono will now have a month to prepare for the second-leg match against Cape Verde in October.
The humiliating first-leg defeat means Cameroon, four times winners of the African Nations Cup, is at risk of missing out on qualification for the tournament for a second year in a row.
Cameroonian football is currently in the midst of a crisis with arguably its greatest ever player, Samuel Eto’o, fiercely critical of its “amateurish and bad management”.
Police and the military were also forced to protect the headquarters of the Cameroon Football Federation earlier this week after demonstrations took place outside the offices following the Cape Verde loss.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734951782labto1734951782ofdlr1734951782owedi1734951782sni@d1734951782log.d1734951782ivad1734951782