The Legendary Fighting Spirit!

Football is a game of surprises whose outcome is difficult to tell until the referee sounds his final whistle. And Cameroonians were served their own share of the surprise; pleasantly so, by the Intermediate Lions Saturday January 30, 2021. A team that had been written off by bookmakers prior to the competition and even before the quarterfinals, surprisingly booked a place at the semis and so in style against a serious title contender, D.R. Congo.
Besides being unprecedented as Cameroon has never gone past the quarterfinals stage of CHAN, the Intermediate Lion’s qualification demonstrated the mind-set of a team that might not have earlier convinced many, but that at least has the zeal to stand any challenge. In effect, the boys made true the usually galvanising statement that, ‘It is not the size of a dog in a fight that matters but rather the size of the fight in the dog.’ The legendary Indomitable Lion’s fighting spirit paid off like has been the case with other selections in previous competitions. 
What spectators and other football analysts saw prior to the game was surely the pre-CHAN tournament wherein Cameroon finished last, drawing once and losing twice. Not even the group stage of the ongoing sixth African Nations Championship (CHAN) where Cameroon qualified for the second round with five points could help change the perception people had of the team. Obviously so as a squad which scored two goals in three matches was far from being convincing for a decisive knockout quarterfinals which offered no room for error. 
The conquering mentality of the team bolstered by the vociferous home crowd at the Japoma stadium in Douala certainly increased the size of the fight in the hunting Intermediate Lions. What even makes the Saturday’s victory sweeter is the ability of the team to come from a goal down to beat a giant and two-time CHAN champions, the Leopards of D.R. Congo. That the midfield and attack lines combined beautifully to score hitherto scarce goals in the Lion’s matches gave fans reasons to celebrate. A fighting spirit that kept the Lion’s defence compartment unshakable throughout the very palpitating second segment when D.R. invaded the Cameroonian goal area in an attempt to cancel the lead.  Staying focused as they did, till the end of the game in their efforts to thwart all onslaughts, is telling of a resilient squad.  
Sailing through to the round of four is heart-soothing and more than ever hope-raising that the team could lift the coveted trophy w...