News from the Lions' den

James Gordon, who writes regularly about African football, meets a Sunderland front man who spells danger for Irish centre backs

"Patrick Mboma will see you in 30 minutes. Can you come to the CAN Village right away?"

The phone call from Monsieur Nguidjol, president of the Cameroon Football Federation, had come out of the blue, and, as I jump into the taxi I have no idea about what is going to happen later that day.

Being held up at traffic lights is in England a bore, a minor inconvenience. That's all. In the poverty stricken Falange district of Bamako, Mali's capital (where Cameroon were competing in the African Nations Cup), it is 10 times worse. So when the battered, yellow Peugeot splutters to a halt close to the only set of traffic lights in town, I know that I am in for a harrowing half an hour.

For the traffic lights, a western invention and a source of pride for Malians, are home to les gamins des rues, street kids who are amongst the poorest people on earth. As the driver takes a hammer to the engine, a hundred human skeletons descend on the car, each one pricking my conscience as I put my hand into my pocket knowing that the little that I give them will never be enough to ease their suffering or my conscience. And the more I dig for, the more urchins I attract.

An hour late for my appointment, I trudge to reception and ask for Patrick Mboma. Patrick is in the middle of dinner when I arrive, but he is delighted to see me and waves away my apologies. He may be used to life in Europe, having moved to France when he was two after his father secured a contract as an IT consultant in Paris, but he has never forgotten his roots; his round face, high cheek bones and twinkling brown eyes are so typically African.

Lowering his gargantuan frame into a fragile wicker chair, he begins to tell me about his biggest regret in football. I may have arrived late for the meeting, but it appears that Cameroon's former African Footballer of the Year has arrived late in life.

"If there is one thing that I do regret it is that I peaked too late. I didn't really start to fulfil my potential until I was 27 and I sealed a move to Gamba Osaka (Japan), where I scored 25 goals in one season. Who knows how far I would have gone had I hit my peak earlier?

"I should have left Paris Saint Germain," he laments, but his sadness quickly turns to anger as he launches a vitriolic attack on France's most famous club.

"I don't think it was my fault. As far as I am concerned I did everything I could to get into the team. Luis Fernandez was the coach at the time and he made it very clear that he was going to ignore the young players, no matter how talented they were. In my three years at the club I saw the ugly side of football, where agents were exploiting youngsters. Many young lives were ruined. But I am sure it is PSG who have the deepest regrets. They let Anelka go as well."

Mboma's problems are still continuing despite his move into British football from Parma in Italy. A few months after I met him in the dry, dusty heat of Mali, I find him in northeast England, shivering and sheltering under a giant red and white-striped umbrella from the hailstorm that has erupted at the Charley Hurley training ground, home of Sunderland Football Club.

A stray icicle has somehow managed to escape the attention of his enormous umbrella. Discreetly plucking it from his eye, he begins to tell me of the last few wretched months he has spent in Britain.

His ordeal started in January when he was forced to choose between his wife, who was due to give birth to their fourth child in Paris, and his country, who needed him to spearhead their attack in Mali. Mboma chose Cameroon.

"When I arrived in Mali it was a very stressful time. I was very scared. My wife was due to give birth to our fourth child. I felt terrible that I couldn't be there. It ripped me to pieces. It was awful to know that I could do nothing to help her and I had also wanted to be present at the birth. But that was not possible. Thankfully the baby was born in the early stages of the tournament. We named him Kedji."

Mboma had also been forced by Cameroon to put the national team ahead of his club side, Parma. As he boarded the plane for Bamako, Mboma had no idea that he had played his last game for the Serie A side, so angry were his bosses.

"The first I heard about Parma's dissatisfaction was from my agent. He called me just 20 minutes before our quarter-final with Egypt, and told me Parma had accepted an offer from Sunderland to take me on loan until the end of the season. I was shell-shocked. They hadn't consulted me."

However, Mboma had always dreamed of finishing his career in the Premiership. As soon as he made known his desire to become a Sunderland player, the papers were rushed through by his agent, and the loan deal was completed within hours.

But when Mboma arrived in Sunderland he was shocked by what he saw and what he heard.

"I was so in love with the idea of playing Premiership football that I realised I knew nothing about Sunderland. I thought that it was a little retirement village on the south coast, quite close to London. How wrong I was!

"It has been a real problem understanding the accents as well. When I arrived I thought that the people were speaking a different language," he confesses.

Luckily for Mboma, footballers express themselves with their feet and brains and this is what is making his future much brighter. He has recovered from recent injuries and is looking forward to competing in the World Cup.

"The next two years promise to be very exciting for Cameroon," he tells me excitedly, his eyes as bright as the soaked orange bib which hangs from his midriff.

"Three days after we had won in Mali, we talked together as a squad. We decided that we wanted to make history. We agreed to set ourselves tough goals for the years ahead. For the World Cup in Japan we are hoping to go one better than our brothers did in 1990 and reach the last four of the competition. Then, in 2004 we want to become the first African side to win three consecutive Nation Cups. These are our targets," he replies purposefully, but the laughter that immediately follows betrays his real feelings.

And Mboma has revealed Cameroon's secret World Cup weapon. He has studied his Sunderland team-mates' movements and believes the "inside knowledge" he has gleaned could give Cameroon an edge.

"I play with Niall Quinn and Jason McAteer. I have learned a few of their tricks in training. Naturally I have passed on the information to the rest of the boys.

"I think we have a huge advantage over Germany as well, because our coach, Winfried Schafer, is German. He has contacts who have spied on Rudi Voller's men.

"But, I feel that it will be a long time before an African country lifts the World Cup," he muses gloomily.

How long? Ten years? Twenty years? After all, wasn't it Pele who over-optimistically prophesied that the trophy would come to African soil by the millennium?

Mboma is silent. He gives me a blank grin, his eyes wide and unblinking, and I begin to wish that I had never asked the question. Mboma fidgets uneasily in his chair. He is reluctant to predict the decade when an African team will triumph, and so I decide to change tact.

"So what is holding the African continent back?"

"African countries have done well at youth level and that demonstrates their skill. However, to succeed at senior level you must have so much more. Winning the World Cup is as much to do with administration and organisation as it is about the technique and skill of the players."

But it seems what is really preventing Mboma and his team-mates from fulfilling their potential is the ghost of Roger Milla and the 1990 side. And despite Mboma's great admiration for Milla, he objects to the media constantly drawing parallels between him and his compatriot.

"As soon as Cameroon produce a good striker, the media start to compare him toRoger Milla. That makes me very angry and I think that is very unfair and a little insulting. I won the title of African Footballer of the Year and I am from Cameroon. Therefore, I must be a carbon copy of Roger Milla. Not only am I my own man, I am a very different player. I pose a greater threat in the air than Roger ever did and have a better shot from long distance.

"But perhaps we have a man who can emulate Milla. I think the real star of the World Cup could be Samuel Eto'o of Real Mallorca. He has been blessed with real pace and, like Romario, when he runs at a defence the ball seems to stick to his feet. His movement off the ball is excellent and given the smallest opening he will score."

And how much of Cameroon's success does he put down to Schafer?

"I think Winfried has been a big success because he is perhaps the only European coach to realise that he was coaching an African team and not a European one. Before Schafer, so many Europeans have come in and made wholesale changes to the team structure and formation when none were needed.

"He appointed Thomas Nkono, the former Cameroon goalkeeper, as his assistant coach. Now we have the best of both worlds. The organisation of the team may be modelled around the German system, but the spirit is most definitely from Cameroon."

As I make a dash for the car park, Sunderland's equivalent of Bamako's street kids descend on Mboma. They are not looking for money, or a hand-out. Instead they want his signature. He signs their sodden Sunderland shirts happily. Come early August, when the new season starts, the queue may be a lot longer.

Mboma on Senegal

"It will be virtually impossible for Senegal to reach the second round. In fact I think that Group A is so strong that they will be lucky to get a point. I feel that they will lose their first match against France. Denmark and Uruguay have proved their world cup pedigree over the years and I think that they will also defeat the Senegalese."

One to watch - El-Hadji Diouf

Senegal's opponents: France (May 31st), Denmark (June 6th), Uruguay (June 11th).

Mboma on Tunisia

"Tunisia will find it very hard, too. They played very badly in Mali. I think that some of their players didn't want to be there. With Henri Michel not at the helm for the World Cup I don't see them winning a game. Belgium, Russia and Japan are not world-class sides by any measure, but they all have enough talent within their ranks to beat Tunisia."

One to watch: Chokri El Quaer

Tunisia's opponents: Russia (Jun 5th), Belgium (Jun 10th), Japan (Jun 14th).

Mboma on South Africa

"South Africa under-performed in Mali, but if they are professional and organised, they have the talent to reach the second round. I would fancy them to beat Slovenia and perhaps force a draw against Paraguay. Four points could be enough to take them through."

One to watch: Sibusiso Zuma

South Africa's opponents: Paraguay, (June 2nd), Spain (June 12th), Slovenia, (June 8th).

Mboma on Nigeria

"Nigeria have always been famous for producing shocks. They are one of the best

teams in Africa, but this time round they have a really tough group. I think that England

and Argentina will beat Nigeria, but

they are capable of defeating Sweden. I can't see them qualifying for the last 16 though."

One to watch: Julius Agahowa

Nigeria's opponents: Argentina (June 2nd), Sweden (Jun 7th), England (Jun 12th)

I think the

real star of

the World Cup

could be

Samuel Eto'o of Mallorca