People will forgive that. They've already forgotten it. We also need to forget the six goals the Russians put past them in the same tournament. But who could forget Roger Miller's face and the jigs and reels that went with the shockwaves of 1990? Now how old was that guy? Really? So it's a case of will the real Cameroon please step forward? Will Patrick Mboma be the man? With former African footballer of the year Jean Manga Onguene (or just Jean as I call him) coaching, they will have their chances. It will still be a big task but I will say it will be a joy to watch and definitely one of the "shock" possibilities to look out for. They will fancy their chances in the opening Group game against Austria. Then again, why wouldn't any of these 32 teams fancy their chances?
What about them Austrians then? So far, nobody expects anything from them. I have a feeling (gained from playing the game all my life) that it would be unwise to discount them too quickly. After all, they did top their qualifying group and only lost one game out of 10 played. Sure, they have problems scoring. But who doesn't, really? I look for them to be organised and uncompromising in defense, and basically approaching games with a lets-see-what-happens attitude. Unfortunately, this attitude does not lend itself to excitement and a high thrills-per-minute ratio. If I was a heartless and unfeeling commentator, I might say their games will be as interesting as watching Steve Davis play snooker "live." (For my North American audience, read "as watching paint dry.") Since I am neither heartless (last time I checked) or unfeeling, I will point out that it takes two to tango and it also takes two boring teams to make a boring soccer game. So I honestly don't expect their games to be boring. Well, not too boring anyway. If I was Austrian, I would have liked to get the notoriously slow starters Italy in their first game and not Cameroon.
