Team profile: Cameroon

Samuel Eto’o mocked Chelsea coach José Mourinho’s suggestion that he’s a bit long in the tooth by mimicking a hunched old man when celebrating a critical goal for the Blues in April, but while he remains a formidable goal poacher with a track record of success at Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea, he is 33 … And if fans and rival defenders are keeping a close watch on Eto’o, that makes 25-year-old striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting even more dangerous. His goal to earn the Lions a draw in a pre-tournament friendly with his native Germany may be the first of many for the young man claiming Eto’o’s mantle.

François Omam-Biyik’s header that beat Argentina in the opening match of the 1990 World Cup. The unfancied Lions’ victory over the world champions had an electrifying effect all across Africa, and started the continent’s most memorable World Cup Cinderella story — driven by the goals of veteran striker Roger Milla, Cameroon went all the way to the quarterfinals, forever burying the notion that an African opponent was an easy three points for a World Cup contender.

The Lions have never matched their 1990 performance, and their squad today is relatively weaker than it has been in previous years. Hard not to imagine them finishing fourth in Group A behind Brazil, Mexico and Croatia.

The miracle of 1990 came precisely because nobody had taken Cameroon seriously. It has the least to lose, and expectations are so low that it can go out and have fun against teams under pressure. Plus, Eto’o at 33 is a spring chicken compared with his hero, Roger Milla, who was 38 when he lit up Italia ’90.

Fullback Benoît Assou-Ekotto may be the most honest player at the World Cup. He doesn’t really like soccer that much, he told The Guardian in 2010. (He’d rather be a DJ!) As he puts it on his own website, “I’m lucky and appreciate what I have, but football is just a job, a means to an end ... there are more important things in life than kicking a ball around.” The candid soccer pro is an advocate of community activism, urging players to give part of their salaries to charities tackling social problems. So why does the French-born defender play for Cameroon, the land of his father? “I have no feeling for the France national team.”