Africans must be quick off the mark

Cameroon manager Hugo Broos warns against complacency in must-win clash with Australia at Confederations Cup in Russia.

Cameroon manager Hugo Broos and midfielder Sebastien Siani. EPA

Cameroon will seek to impose themselves early on in today’s match against Australia at the Confederations Cup to avoid a repeat of the tepid start to their opening game of the tournament which they lost to Chile, said manager Hugo Broos.

“I hope we start the game better than we did against Chile,” he said.

“The first 20 minutes were almost disastrous and if we didn’t have a bit of luck on our side, we could have been 3-0 down.

“I hope against Australia that from the first second of the game we will seek to dominate.”

Cameroon lost 2-0 to Chile in Moscow on Sunday, eventually giving up two late goals, and with Australia losing 3-2 to Germany on Monday in the other Group B tie, today’s clash in St Petersburg is a must-win for both countries.

“I’ve seen a few games of Australia and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the team, a fighting spirit, so it’s a very difficult team to play against,” Broos said during his pre-match conference.

“It’s a different style than three days ago when we played Chile.

“But again we’ll need to be on our highest level if we are to beat them, and we have to beat them to keep up our chances to go further than the first round.

“If we don’t have a victory against Australia it’s finished for us. We know what to do but it’ll be a tough game.”

Cameroon have also been warned by the manager not to regard the match against Australia as the easiest of the three group games they play at the Confederations Cup in Russia.

“We have already been warned not to treat Australia as the lowest ranked side in our group and anyway, often that sort of ranking can be decisive,” said midfielder Sebastien Siani at the pre-match conference.

“Sometimes the team that is supposedly the weakest can upset the odds so we are not going to be complacent.

“We are taking it seriously because we know they also need a good result.”

Cameroon play their last game in Group B against Germany in Sochi on Sunday.

The top two in the group advance to next week’s semi-finals.

* Reuters

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport