Song: “Let’s silence our critics”

The choice of Cameroon, Rigobert songplayed down suggestions that his team was under unfair pressure from the president Samuel Eto’owho predicted an African World Cup final between his country and Morocco before the tournament began.

Song, whose team faces Serbia in Group G on Monday, denied the former Inter Milan, FC Barcelona and Chelsea striker a break and said the expectations created by his bold prediction were not the reason for the defeat. Cameroon. 1-0 against Switzerland on his debut.

The ‘Indomitable Lions’ have not won a World Cup group stage match since beating Saudi Arabia in 2002 when Eto’o, now president of the Cameroon Football Federation, was the last player to score the winning goal for the country.

“The president of the federation is passionate about football. He is a footballer himself, he lives, breathes and dreams about football, but he does not put any burden or stress on our shoulders,” Song told reporters.

“That’s not why my players didn’t score against Switzerland. I would say that sometimes he even wants to put on his shirt and go out on the pitch to play, because he wants to give everything.” “The president is a very supportive gentleman and easy to talk to. He’s open and we communicate a lot.”

Third-placed Cameroon and bottom Serbia, who lost 2-0 to pre-tournament favorites Brazil, meet today (11 am) knowing another defeat will see them relegated.

With Cameroon facing Brazil in their final group game, Song backed his players against Serbia. “We know what awaits us,” Song said. “It will be a decisive game and we are well prepared. We know what we have to do and we are really looking forward to starting. We can’t wait for the whistle to blow to get down to business… I think we will see you are the other side of this group and we will silence our critics.”