{"id":3140,"date":"2022-01-29T17:59:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T17:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3140"},"modified":"2022-01-31T20:29:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T20:29:55","slug":"unloved-and-unforgiven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/01\/29\/unloved-and-unforgiven\/","title":{"rendered":"Unloved and Unforgiven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Satish Sekar in Douala \u00a9 Satish Sekar January 29th<\/sup> 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Chance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curtain is scheduled to fall on Douala\u2019s participation in Cameroon\u2019s second hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tonight. Fifty years ago Douala and Yaound\u00e9 shared hosting duties. Both were host cities this time too. Cameroon were given the moniker, Indomitable Lions in 1972,but failed to live up to the expectations of an expectant nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went on to win five AFCON titles, second only to the mighty Pharaohs, the team they beat to claim their last AFCON title in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s unfinished business in Cameroon\u2019s hosting AFCON for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHe was a great goal-scorer,\u201d Guinean maestro, Ch\u00e9rif Souleymane, told me exclusively recently. The Guinean champion, African Cup of Champions Clubs best player and champion of 1972 and African Ballon D\u2019Or winner should know. He reeled off a list of Cameroonian opponents he held in very high esteem. Roger Milla was one of them, but perhaps the most iconic Indomitable Lion, was not the player Souleymane was talking about. So, who was the legendary Cameroonian that Souleymane was referring to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hafia won the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1972. A year earlier a second Cameroonian team Canon Yaound\u00e9 won the tournament \u2013 Oryx Douala, now languishing in the third tier of Cameroonian football, won the inaugural African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1965 \u2013 Walter Ebell\u00e9 scored the winner against Real de Bamako. Malian great Salif Ke\u00efta, the player Souleymane rates as the best African that he played against, was top scorer with three for the Malian champions. The following year the Malians lost to Stade d\u2019Abidjan in the final. Ke\u00efta top scored again \u2013 this time with a still standing Champions clubs record of 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1971 Canon Yaound\u00e9 won the title by default after Asante Kotoko fans invaded the pitch while losing 1-0 in the second leg. Kotoko had won the first leg 2-0. Canon Yaound\u00e9 were not unworthy winners \u2013 they had scored 27 goals in the competition. Among the champions was the man rated highly by Souleymane, L\u00e9a Eyoum Charles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Forgotten Legend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met L\u00e9a last year at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) and interviewed him. Asked who rated as Cameroon\u2019s greatest player, he said, \u201cMe,\u201d and laughed. But behind his infectious personality is a pain that had not healed in half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played in Cameroon for just three years, joining Canon Yaound\u00e9 for his last season as a player. He played for Cameroon over 50 times, won the African Cup of Champions Clubs and, also the African Bronze Ball in 1971, trailing Ghanaian and African great Ibrahim Sunday and Ghana\u2019s iconic goalkeeper Robert Mensah. He is an underappreciated legend of Cameroonian football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iconic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles was one of the first Cameroonians to play in France after leaving Africa in 1972, staying for the rest of the 1970s. He went into coaching in France before returning to Africa in 1980 and coaching first in Ivory Coast and then Cameroon. In 2006 he was included in CAF\u2019s list of the top 200 African players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was just 21 when he was part of Cameroon\u2019s first experience of hosting AFCON. Sadly, the 1972 generation have been underappreciated, unforgiven even. (Photo of L\u00e9a Eyoum Charles at his home in Douala.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cameroon hosted the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 1972. Their crime \u2013 a quirk of African football \u2013 was they hosted and failed to win. They lost 1-0 to eventual champions Congo (formerly Congo Brazzaville) \u2013 No\u00ebl Minga Tchibinda netted the only goal at Yaound\u00e9\u2019s Stade Omnisport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half a Century<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four of Congo’s champions and me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years on the legendary L\u00e9a sits in his home in Douala awaiting an official invitation to Cameroon\u2019s AFCON party from the Local Organising Committee or CAF \u2013 the invitation that would demonstrate Cameroon embraces a forgotten legend. It never came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that any way to treat a man CAF recognised as among the top 200 African players in 2006? Is it too much to expect recognition and inclusion as a legend in this AFCON? But Eyoum is not alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar in Douala \u00a9 Satish Sekar January 29th 2022) Last Chance The curtain is scheduled to fall on Douala\u2019s participation in Cameroon\u2019s second hosting [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[135,134,136,133,137],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3157,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions\/3157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}