{"id":780711,"date":"2024-01-23T10:16:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T10:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/?p=780711"},"modified":"2024-01-23T10:16:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T10:16:59","slug":"afcon-2023-rigobert-song-the-dreadful-news-for-cameroon-before-facing-gambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/afcon-2023\/afcon-2023-rigobert-song-the-dreadful-news-for-cameroon-before-facing-gambia","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2023 \u2013 Rigobert Song: The dreadful news for Cameroon before facing Gambia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A few hours before the big match between Cameroon and Gambia, counting for the third group stage match of the AFCON 2023, all eyes are on Rigobert Song. The one who started his coaching career in 2018 is going through a terrible series that does not inspire any confidence among Cameroonians before this decisive match.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The third and final day of the group stage matches of AFCON 2023 started this Monday with many surprises. Initiated by Ivory Coast,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/afcon-2023\/afcon-2023-ivory-coasts-round-of-16-chances-after-the-drubbing-by-equatorial-guinea\"> the host country that was thrashed by Equatorial Guinea<\/a>, this third day continued with the disillusionment of Ghana in the night, coupled with the new draw of the Pharaohs of Egypt. For now, the big teams are on the verge of leaving the competition even before the round of 16. Among the teams under the threat of elimination at the end of this final day, we find Rigobert Song&#8217;s Cameroon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Coach Rigobert Song and his boss Samuel Eto\u2019o will need to have a tough conversation going forward. <br><br>Cameroon \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf2 have just one point from two games in Group C and must defeat The Gambia \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf2 on Tuesday to stand any chance of advancing to the Round of 16 at the AFCON 2023. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vQK62TaAwL\">pic.twitter.com\/vQK62TaAwL<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Tosin Emmanuel (@tosemmy5) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tosemmy5\/status\/1748434940155294091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 19, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The stat that sends chills down the spine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Having taken over the Indomitable Lions before the 2022 World Cup played in Qatar, the former Cameroonian defender continues his journey at the helm of the national team this Tuesday against Gambia&#8217;s Scorpions. Placed in Group C alongside Senegal and Guinea Conakry, Cameroon is forced to win to secure qualification for the next round. If on paper, there should be no debate given the qualities in Rigobert Song&#8217;s team, the reality on the field may be quite different with this unique AFCON 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/IMG-20240122-WA0047-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"AFCON 2023 - Rigobert Song: The dreadful news for Cameroon before facing Gambia\" class=\"wp-image-780718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/IMG-20240122-WA0047-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/IMG-20240122-WA0047-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/IMG-20240122-WA0047-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/IMG-20240122-WA0047.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before this important match, statistics do not favor Coach Song. After the end of his playing career in 2010, the former Galatasaray defender (2004-2008, 108 matches for 4 goals) has not really succeeded in his new life as a coach. As the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/cfootcameroun\/status\/1749685664604393821?s=20\">Cfoot <\/a><\/em>points out, the current head of the Indomitable Lions has never qualified a team for the knockout stage of an official competition. We are obviously talking about CHAN 2018, the U23 AFCON in 2019, and the recent World Cup played in Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rigobert Song is not afraid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With these meager statistics, serenity is not at all present among Cameroonians. Today, the big question is whether Rigobert Song can end this poor streak by qualifying Cameroon for the AFCON 2023 round of 16. In the press conference this Monday before the match, the 47-year-old man appeared very confident and serene. Responding to a question about the pressure on his shoulders, given the criticism in Cameroon for the draw against Guinea (1-1) and the defeat against Senegal (3-1), the coach will be uncompromising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cameroon Coach Rigobert Song on the Gambia- Cameroon Tuesday game:  <br>\u201cI remain concentrated on the match, and I think tomorrow we will qualify.  I remain focused, and I will win.&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AFCON2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#AFCON2023<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hRSNDGIsTR\">pic.twitter.com\/hRSNDGIsTR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Alkamba Times (@TheAlkambaTimes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAlkambaTimes\/status\/1749630345325224330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 23, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>First of all, I am someone special, I don&#8217;t panic, I don&#8217;t stress. I listen, I understand the criticisms, I know what I have to do, I stay composed. They know me, my players, I maintain my lucidity, I simply tell them: Do your job. I have experienced pressure since my youngest age, I have known it, pressure, as a player. It&#8217;s part of the game, you win, you are strong, you lose, you are bad. I don&#8217;t get into that game,<\/em>&#8221; said Song, who believes that Cameroon will come out successful against Gambia. &#8220;<em>I trust my players, we will succeed,<\/em>&#8221; concluded the Cameroonian phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See you this Tuesday at the final whistle to see if Cameroon will manage to avoid humiliation. In any case, all Cameroonians are waiting for success to at least reach the round of 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few hours before the big match between Cameroon and Gambia, counting for the third group stage match of the AFCON 2023, all eyes are on Rigobert Song. The one who started his coaching career in 2018 is going through a terrible series that does not inspire any confidence among Cameroonians before this decisive match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":780719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,508],"tags":[142,84,352],"class_list":["post-780711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afcon-2023","category-cameroon","tag-afcon-2023","tag-cameroon","tag-rigobert-song"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/song1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfmZoa-3h67","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780720,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780711\/revisions\/780720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}