Schafer strengthens Cameroon claims

Winfried Schafer may simply have got a little carried away with the occasion when, during Cameroon's big send-off from Yaounde a couple of weeks ago he grandly announced "the moment for an African team to reach the semi-finals (of a World Cup) has arrived".

Many believe, though, the team he leads to these championships is the best ever from the continent to take the world stage. Having matured together through successful campaigns at major youth championships, the Atlanta Olympics and two African Nations Cups, the feeling is that the Indomitable Lions, though still a young side, are approaching their peak. Even ahead of the tournament their reputation has grown to the extent that the widely held expectation is they will top Group E.

For Schafer, just being at this World Cup must seem like an astonishing turnaround. Less than a year ago the 52-year-old former Borussia Monchengladbach player was in the footballing wilderness. After 10 good years at Karlsruhe, where he helped to bring through players like Oliver Kahn and Mehmet Scholl, spells in charge of Stuttgart and then Borussia Berlin ended badly.

When things started to go badly at each of those clubs the coach's tendency to blame others quickly alienated players. And by the time the Cameroon FA set their hearts on a German to bring a more disciplined air to their team's affairs Schafer was not really expected to get a top-level job again.

But when more illustrious candidates turned the post down the vaguely eccentric Schafer merely declared that "the jungle was calling".

In the year since getting the job he has thrown himself into it with huge enthusiasm. He speaks almost no French and little English but then the Russian coach, Valeri Nepomniatschy, took Cameroon to the quarter-finals in 1990 while speaking so little of any language to the team that it subsequently emerged his translator had made up the team talks himself. And then at USA'94 Claude Le Roy treated his players in a way that most of the squad insisted was a throwback to the colonial era.

Schafer's devotion to the team and its players has, in contrast, enabled him to win the respect even of those with whom he still finds it a struggle to communicate.

"Sometimes body language is more important than any number of words," said Schafer's assistant Thomas Nkono in a recent interview with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. "Winnie brings harmony to the squad. He travels around Europe speaking with his hands and feet, taking players into his arms. It is the first time that we have had a manager on the same wavelength as his players."

Nkono, a hero of his country's first appearance at the World Cup finals in 1992, has had a hand in bringing many of the current squad to Europe and while some observers have lamented the increased emphasis on the physical strength of the national side, the Barcelona-based coach believes Schafer's approach has been influenced primarily by the inclinations of the big clubs in countries like Spain, France and England. "I'm approached by a lot of clubs to find them African players but they're only interested in the big, physical ones," he says.

"Then Winnie has to pick his squads and because the league back home is so poor he can only choose from the players who play in European football. In that way the current fashion among clubs is shaping the way in which African teams of the future will play the game."

Schafer, meanwhile, speaks mainly about the wonderful enthusiasm his players display for the game although he admits "they've got one problem, they forget that chasing back is part of the game too".

His attempts to rectify that problem had Real Madrid defender Geremi claiming recently that "we play just like the Germans now".

That may be overstating matters just a little bit but there is no doubting how strong and capable this Cameroon side has now become. Schafer may not quite lead them to the last four he promised but if they can beat Ireland tomorrow and so almost guarantee themselves a place in the knock-out stages it will take a very good side to prevent them reaching territory unknown to any African team before them.