Sunday Times E-Edition

Bromance How Broos helped star out of darkness

How Hugo Broos helped Cameroon’s star out of the dark

● A conversation in a candle-lit hotel room helped to lay the foundation for how Vincent Aboubakar commits himself on the field for his country. The candlelight was not the setting for him and his lover to embrace and whisper sweet nothings to each other.

Far from it. Rather the setting was what Hugo Broos walked into when Aboubakar opened the door to let him in.

“I knocked on his door. It was dark in his room. I said, what is this? You see, the thing is he was superstitious. He was out of balance. I talked to him for more than one hour. I succeeded to let him think — and perhaps believe — that it is not only him who has to make Cameroon win. There are 10 other players who have to do the job,” recalled Broos.

“It is fine to be superstitious. Other players are too, but there has to be a limit. He came in after 45 minutes in the semi against Ghana. It was up to him that we won 2-0. He scored a fantastic goal and ran all the way to the bench and he kissed me. I think he knew what we had spoken about in his room, me trying to persuade him to believe more in himself and not so much on other things.”

The team’s detractors derived joy in describing it as the worst Cameroon team in living memory after Broos discarded the older players, who were riding on reputation. But the team went a step further. “He scored a winning goal and we beat Egypt in the final,” said Broos.

Aboubakar’s 88th-minute winner, having come off from the substitutes bench, will be forever etched. Close your eyes. Picture a chest control, swift stunning turn and shoot past veteran goalie Essam El-Hadary, who had been beaten only once en route to the final.

That was in Gabon, site of Afcon 2017 where Cameroon left with their fifth continental crown. At the time Cameroon had not won Afcon in 15 years. Fast forward to 2022, Cameroon are staging the competition that was scheduled for last year but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Proving himself a man for the big occasion, Aboubakar is on fire, burning like a furnace on home soil. His five goals — including two penalties — in three group games have catapulted him to headline act and already matching 2019 top scorer Odion Ighalo.

The striker who shoots for Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia at club level is four strikes away from levelling the long-standing record by an individual player at the tournament.

Democratic Republic of the

Congo’s

Ndaye Mulamba left the 1974 edition in Egypt with nine goals.

In moments when Cameroon needed a hero, the Yaounde native, who turned 30 yesterday, has served up his go big or go home showings. After twice converting from the spot in the 3-1 defeat of Burkina Faso in the opening game, the fox in the box delivered a dazzling double in two minutes for the hosts in the 4-1 thumping of Ethiopia.

“I know him from 2016 when he was playing in Porto. He scored very easily when he came to the national team [but] it was not direct success.” Immediate success you mean? “Yes, yes, that’s what I mean. The problem with Vincent is that he has a great sense of responsibility.

“Back then he thought that if Cameroon had to win, he alone had to do it. It meant he was doing a lot of work. He was dribbling, he was losing balls. When we went to Afcon [in Gabon] he was not playing good in the early games. I took him out of the team.

“I remember like it was yesterday,” Broos recalls of the hotel room heartto-heart talk as he shared insights on a man allergic to half-hearted measures and addicted to going in wholeheartedly.

“He is a clever player. I told him then that you don’t have to ask [for] the ball in the middle of the field. Abu has to be in the 16. That is the area where he is extremely dangerous. When he gets the ball there is at least a chance to score and most of the time he scores. He’s like a killer.

“He works for the team. When you have a player like that you have a chance to win,” said Broos. “He was a captain, too, when I was there. He could not handle it in 2017. He is now more mature, in peace with himself and you see what a great player he is.

“When I came to Cameroon, I knew most of the players than I knew those of SA. So I went to Portugal to see a few games when he was in Porto and immediately we were happy with him. He helped us a lot.”

The Belgian coach pronounced himself dumbfounded to see a pedestrian Algeria. He predicted a north-vswest final between the hosts and Morocco. “I’ve been very surprised about the bad performances of Algeria.

“They lost against Equatorial Guinea. The winner of the last Afcon. It is unbelievable. If they don’t win against Ivory Coast they go home.” For the record, Algeria suffered the humiliation of early elimination after losing 3-1 to Ivory Coast.

“Maybe it will go to a final between Cameroon and Morocco.” The last-16 stage begins today (see fixtures below). Cameroon clash with Comoros tomorrow and Morocco take on Malawi a day later. I am interested in finding out what Broos has made of Sadio Mane’s Senegal.

“With Senegal, everyone expects them to do well at every Afcon and every Afcon it is a deception. For some reason they never arrive in the final.”

Your friends, Ghana? “Ghana didn’t play good. They didn’t deserve to go through. The intensity of the games is high. It’s like everyone is playing for their lives,” said Broos. “Sometimes people think this team is good, this team, this team is strong. But look at Algeria. They had about 70% of the ball and Guinea had 30. But Guinea played for their lives and won.”

Ghana didn ’ t play good. They didn’t deserve to go through. The intensity of the games is high. It’s like everyone is playing for their lives

Hugo Broos

Bafana Bafana coach

Sport

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2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

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