Cameroon’s football team
was eliminated from the World Cup on Monday after losing to Brazil 4-1.
The Lions, as the team is called, exited the competition with 0 points, 9
goals against them and only one goal scored. This was not to their
fans’ liking, especially since the players had initially refused to go
to Brazil because they weren’t satisfied with the amount of prize money on offer.
On Wednesday, eleven of the players returned to Cameroon’s capital
Yaounde. One of them was midfielder Stéphane Mbia. A local resident,
Florian Ngimbis, filmed angry fans blocking his car.
Dozens and
dozens of people gathered around Mbia’s car, chanting “We want our
share of the 56 million CFA” [equivalent to about 85,000 euros – this is
the amount of the bonus Cameroon’s players reportedly received for
playing the World Cup]. I thought I was dreaming until I saw a group of
policemen get the guy out of his vehicle and put him in a taxi, which
the screaming crowd tried to run after.
Just half an hour
earlier, I had run into Mbia while doing some shopping in a sports
store. Despite his sunglasses, I recognised him, so I said “hey, pro!”
and he responded with a military salute. […] Personally, I think the mob
attacked him not because of his team’s defeat, but rather because he’s
rich, and they wanted to rob him.
The Lions’ defeat was such a
big disappointment in Cameroon that the country's president, Paul Biya,
has asked for an investigation into the team’s performance, with the
goal of “urgently and profoundly reforming Cameroonian football
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