Japan and Cameroon kick off their World Campaign with a Group E clash in Bloemfontein on Monday that pits Africa’s most successful team in the competition against an Asian side desperate to regain form after a woeful warm-up run.
At the Free State Stadium both teams will hoping for the strongest start possible in a preliminary round in which their opponents include Denmark and group favourites, the Netherlands.
South Africa marks Japan’s fourth straight appearance in the World Cup finals, but that achievement has recently been overshadowed by another figure — four straight losses in their final official matches.
The build-up to their 2010 World Cup debut also included a goalless training encounter against Zimbabwe that further emphasized
Japan’s lack of firepower - just one goal in their last five games. Cameroon, who in South Africa make their sixth World Cup finals appearance are looking to improve on their and Africa’s best World Cup placing — a quarterfinal spot in Italy in 1990.
They too have failed to find a win from their last three warm-up matches which included defeats against Portugal and Serbia.
But in sharp contrast to Japan, the African side managed to score in each of those matches, with a final tally of four goals. And goals are what Cameroon’s talismanic player Samuel Eto’o is all about. — DPA