One People One Power! Victoria United :Cameroonian Champions

I made the journey from London a few weeks ago to visit my home nation of Cameroon. While there it was my mission to watch as much football as possible. From the sand pits of "petit terrain, Douala" to the fields in 'lower farms, buea' I wanted to see it all. Fortunately for me it was the playoffs in Cameroon, deciding who will be crowned Champions and represent the country in continental competition.

The playoff schedule had no real home or away teams. Naively ! thought as I was staying in Douala I would only be able to see Dynamo Douala's home games. Of which I did witness their game at Stade de Bonamoussadi, a fantastic ground where there were held by Colombe to a 1-1 draw. I paid 2000 CFA (£2.50) for entry which would have been for 2 games had I arrived early enough. On my entry to the stadium I was greeted by roaring chants and echoes of endless trumpets and xylophones, true african atmosphere. The players who had played on the ground previously were still around to watch, which crowned my first sighting of Victoria United. I recognised Nathan Douala from his national team call up, his candour was very friendly and he was taking pictures with fans while Dynamo continued with their game. That draw however was not the result Dynamo needed and the next day I saw on the news that the manager was sacked. I thought they had played well but I clearly did not understand the gravity of the situation.

The following week I was back in Douala for the final round of the playoffs and was excited to go to the famed Mbappe Leppe stadium. My cousin who is a Young Sports Academy fan was enraged by his sides point deduction which had ruled them out of contention for the championship. Samuel Etoo's tenure as president had seen a lot of domestic change in challenging corruption and pushing for more domestic development in players. This has been a double edged sword as some teams have fallen victim by the approach. This point deduction set the table for Victoria united, home of the wonderkid Nathan Douala to lift the title as the first team from Limbe to do so with a draw or a win. 

Learning from my previous experience I arrived early to watch the first game which was Dynamo Douala again vs Coton sport de Garoua. I had high hopes as Coton Sport and Canon Yaounde were the known giants in Cameroonian football so I was very eager to see them play. Unfortunately it was a bore draw. Playing in such heat there needs to be moments to engage the crowd and this was not the game that did it. I suspect that as there was no chance of either team winning the title that this game was not played with the full vigour by either team. As this game ended the ground started to fill up with white t-shirts and the noise level started to grow as Victoria United fans came for with victory on their minds.

In the UK I am used to pitch quality being an issue so to see one game finish and immediately another game of such a high magnitude begin straight after I really wondered alone how this was possible. Nobody cared! No excuses. Do or do, seemed to be the attitude. The quality of football wasnt really affected I saw skills and trickery and high intensity football throughout all three games I witnessed and different styles of play. With Dynamo playing a more direct style of football and excessive use of wing play, Stade Rennard however showed a more technical patient playing style.

With the stadium now near full, the main event began Victoria United vs Stade Rennard. The Victoria united fans with one hand on heart and one hand to the sky crying out "ALLEZ OPOPO", the chant of Victoria... and kick off.

I had high expectations of Nathan Douala, this was the only player that I knew of but had never seen play. But he must have been something special in order to receive a National team call up so young and playing domestically. I must say, the hype is justified.  He is different, playing in attacking midfield behind the striker he found spaces to collect the ball and do damage to the Stade Rennard defence and played a key role in the first Victoria goal to put them 1-0 up and in place for the title. His style is different from a lot of other Cameroonian forwards I saw who are more direct but his cool decision making and technique were clear to see early in the game. 

On the day I actually thought Stade Rennard were the better team. All teams I watched played a generic 4-3-3 formation however Rennard adjusted to the issues and abandoned that shape and left one centre back to step up in to a holding midfield position. This change contributed to Stade Rennard taking a deserved lead. The Stade Rennard midfielders were amazing, I was not privy to the names of the players but I recognised the numbers 26 and 28. The 26 specifically displayed an arsenal of passes and I really enjoyed watching him and his team play. The fans were not agitated in the stands and there was some police intervention which was very effective and allowed for everyone to calm down and enjoy the game. A 2-1 loss would not cut it. Douala was now looking to get back into the game after abit of a slow spell but with direction from their coach to stay calm a collection of fouls began to pile up with a section of the crowd grumbling about special treatment from the referees. They knew a penalty was coming. I did not believe them, but lo and behold...HANDBALL!!

I laughed, the call was clear and who to step up but Douala himself. His run up was unorthodox but I caught the penalty in its full glory on my phone just before it died. That penalty was to be the final stamp on Victoria's success and cemented them in history. I bought my shirt IMMEDIATELY and wore it with pride through the city of Douala with calls of "Champion du Cameroun!!" by whoever saw me. I became part of the greatness by proxy and am now a lifetime fan. The music in the stadium flowed and the trophy ceremony while long, was worth the wait. I will look forward to the progress of the young star Douala but more so the development of Cameroonian football. There is so much talent in Cameroon and it is important that it is shown within its borders, it was a privilege to watch such high level football live and in person.

ALLEZ OPOPO!