Cameroon manager Saidou Alioum has been left speechless after the Indomitable Lions failed to qualify from Group E of the 2022 African Nations Championship following their 1-0 loss to Niger on Tuesday.
The result meant the Menas finished top of the group where only one team could qualify.
Cameroon had hopes of having a better outing in Algeria after finishing fourth at the last edition held on home soil. It was however not to be this time around with Alioum’s tactical approach against the Nigeriens not producing any goals that could have flipped the result in their favour.
“We expected that this would be a difficult game. We have lost and are eliminated. I am speechless. We knew that we had to get a good result and now we have lost and that is it about that,” Alioum said on the CAF website.
“We tried to attack, and we failed to score. Niger defended very well. We tried to use both wings and sometimes, it worked but we did not make it count in front of goal. Niger got a free-kick and they scored.
“We kept fighting until the very last play of the game. In football, you must have hope. This is why I made the changes that I made. It was not our game. Niger deserved the win. We congratulate them and wish them the best.”
🇳🇪 Advancing to the #TotalEnergiesCHAN knockout stages for the first-time in 12 years 🥳#TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 pic.twitter.com/rO8Sm43nA0
— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) January 25, 2023
Niger are making it to the CHAN knockout phase for only the second time having done so during the 2011 edition in Sudan where they lost on penalties to the tournament hosts.
This time they will have to navigate past Ghana to get any chance of making it to the semi-finals for the first time ever.
