The U17 Lions will take on the Gabonese team with hopes of coming through victorious and securing an early qualification ticket to the forthcoming 2025 Under-17 African Cup of Nations.
The Under-17 men’s national football team of Cameroon will take on Gabon tomorrow in its second game at the ongoing Central African Football Federations’ Union’s UNIFFAC Cup currently unfolding in Douala in the Littoral Region. The U17 Lions will entertain the Gabonese at the Annex of the Reunifications Stadium in Douala, the official host facility of the ongoing four-team event. Cameroon will face the Gabonese team with hopes of coming through victorious and securing an early qualification ticket to the forthcoming 2025 Under-17 African Cup of Nations, the AFCON.
Cameroon kick-started its campaign in the championship with a comfortable 9-0 victory over the Central African Republic on Sunday. Thep opening match victory placed the team in a good position in the race for the two tickets available for grabs in the race for qualification to the 2025 U17 AFCON set to run in Morocco from March 30 to April 19.
Head coach Saidou Alioum keen on achieving success
In the build-up to this evening’s match, head coach Alioum Saidou says he and the U17 Lionesses team are focused and keen on delivering without any hitches. “We don’t have to hide it, we have good players like David Mimbang, Njanja Kolly, Bodoman and many more. We will enjoy internally but we will remain objective because we are not qualified yet. We are in a competition where we still have two games left,” Saidou Alioum said in a post-match press conference on Sunday after the Central African Republic match.
The champion of the ongoing tournament in Douala tournament will compete in Group A of the U17 AFCON in Morocco. The team will be up against South Africa, Burkina Fason and Egypt. The runner up team will be in Group D alongside Mali, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire. The top-10 team of the African championship in Morocco will qualify for the 2025 Under-17 Men’s World Cup set for Qatar.
Lions’ trainer waters down age fraud claims
In the lead up to the Gabon game, the head coach of the U17 Lions has also been addressing issues raised concerning the ages of the players that Cameroon has fielded for the ongoing championship in Douala. Following Cameroon’s heavy win over the Central African Republic on Sunday, a section of football fans questioned the ages of Cameroonian players with some claiming that most of the players that Cameroon is using in the Douala championship are older than the 17-year limit.
In a post-match presser on Sunday, Alioum Saidou debunked the claim, insisting that the entire group of players that Cameroon is using in the tournament fall within the required age bracket thanks to appropriate pre-tournament measures that were taken at the national level and UNIFFAC levels. He said a magnetic resonance image, MRI test, was conducted to determine the eligibility of players, fully clearing Cameroon of any age-fraud related worries.
“We are staying in sports and I don’t want to get into the controversy. I am always the first person to describe such things. We have 10 and more players who could not be with us simply because UNIFFAC did their job with MRI tests,” the trainer said. “Before the tournament, I insisted that academies try to be strict on things like. The organization did their job, they excluded players from our team and we replaced them. And so those who are here today have no problems. If they had a problem, I don’t think they would play,” the tactician added.
