Worst Cameroon team in living memory? African Cup of Nations champions 2017

It has produced some cracking stories, however – none better than Cameroon, whose inexperienced team have marched unexpectedly to the final.

They are also spreading the goals along and not showing any dependence on Odion Ighalo or a Ahmed Musa, as the focus has been on the great work ethic and raw desire to make their mark, with Rohr willing to give opportunities to fresh talent. “We can be better, but I think it is only the beginning”, said Broos.

The heroics of Egypt’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam El Hadary helped them edge through to the final on penalties.

Sunday also saw the third place play-off between Ghana and Burkina Faso, where the Black Stars were left shocked after falling to a 1-0 loss to miss out on the bronze. Ngadeu-Ngadjui scored the game-winning goal in the 72nd minute while Bassogog added an insurance goal in the 93rd minute.

Cameroon suffered another blow when central defender Adolphe Teikeu was forced off through injury, N’Koulou replacing him in the 31st minute. Why didn’t I go with them?’

As an upset of the odds, this triumph – a fifth Nations Cup title for Cameroon – might not quite rank with the Milla-inspired march to the quarter-finals of the 1990s World Cup, or the Eto’o-energised Olympic gold medal of 2000.

Cameroon, who had eight of their players withdraw before the tournament, came from a goal down after midfielder Mohamed Elneny had put Egypt ahead midway through the first half.

“We will wait until the last moment to see how the players are feeling”.

Awah Fonka Agustine, governor of Cameroon’s western region, is one of the fans ready to welcome the team home.

“These is a group of 23 players and I have never seen this in my coaching career”.

The Indomitable Lions came from behind to defeat Guinea-Bissau with Sebastien Siani and Michael Ngadeu netting after Piqueti’s contender for goal of the tournament had given the debutants the lead.

The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup will be held between June 17 and July 2 at four stadiums in Russian Federation and they are Otkritie-Arena in Moscow, St. Petersburg Arena, Fisht in Sochi and Kazan-Arena in Kazan. They may not be talented like the Super Eagles but it is going to be battle royale in the two games. “We have a good team and if we prepare as we did for AFCON, we will be ready and we can do something there”.

Mohamed Elneny had put Egypt ahead in the first half but Nicolas Nkoulou levelled before a victor with two minutes to go from Vincent Aboubakar – a brilliant flick and volley, a victor for the ages.