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| June 29, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424 |
France, Cameroon ready for emotional homage to Foe
LYON (France), June 28: France and Cameroon will be paying homage to the memory of Marc-Vivien Foe, a much-loved friend, teammate and respected rival, when they meet on Sunday for a Confederations Cup final bereft of sporting significance.
The Cameroon midfielder’s sudden death during Thursday’s 1-0 semifinal win over Colombia in Lyon has rendered the game at the Stade de France a largely academic exercise.
Cameroon players, who will all wear shirts bearing Foe’s name, are playing the final out of respect for their teammate, while holders France, whose players wept before their 3-2 semifinal win over Turkey, will also remember a player who was a 2002 French championship winner with Olympique Lyon.
However, there will inevitably be a question mark over the mental approach and level of motivation on both sides for a game destined to offer only a pyrrhic victory for the winners.
With top-level sport often decided more by the mind than the body, the appetite of a grieving team for a cup final three days after a team mate’s death is clearly a matter of doubt.
“We will pull ourselves together, we will try to win in memory of Marco,” skipper Rigobert Song told reporters.
“Seeing the reaction of the French players I think it’s better to play because together we will make it a celebration of football.”
Roger Milla, their 1990 World Cup striker and now on the Cameroon coaching staff, summed up the mood saying: “The team has decided to play, to pay homage.
“It’s very hard for the Cameroon players, but he would have wanted us to play this final. We’re going to play it for him.”
“What (sporting) importance will it have? None, really none. But we have to finish the competition for him.”
Cameroon’s mourning squad should be joined by striker Samuel Eto’o, their match-winner against Brazil but who returned on Tuesday to Spanish club Real Mallorca, in order to play Saturday’s King’s Cup final against Recreativo Huelva.
Eto’o is due in Paris early Sunday, assuming he does not pick up an injury on Saturday, and may play some of the final against France.
Emotions will also be running high among the French players, particularly Foe’s former Lyon team mate, goalkeeper Gregory Coupet, who played against Turkey.
France coach Jacques Santini, who coached Foe at Lyon when they won the league, is all too well aware of the delicate nature of Sunday’s game in the Paris suburbs where France won the 1998 World Cup.
“We already know that the mental side of things is important in top-level football — in this game it will be particularly important,” Santini told reporters.
“We’ll have to see with the players, we will have to look at the psychological approach,” he said. “Perhaps some of them will not feel up to it.”
Meanwhile, a minute’s silence will be observed in memory of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe before Saturday’s Confederations Cup third place playoff between Colombia and Turkey.
The players of both teams will wear black armbands, as will the four match officials, FIFA spokesman Hedi Hamel said before the game at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard.—Reuters
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