Yaounde, Sep 14 (IANS) Cameroon Sports Minister Adoum Garoua has appointed Jean-Paul Akono as the new coach of the national football team after incumbent Denis Lavagne was sacked.
Akono, a former Cameroon international defender and a former national coach from 2000 to 2001, took over Thursday from Frenchman Lavagne who had been coaching the ‘Indomitable Lions’ since Oct 2011 without a contract until he was granted a one-year renewable contract June 4 with the main task of qualifying the Lions for the 2013 African Nations Cup (AFCON) in South Africa as well as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, reports Xinhua.
His replacement follows Cameroon’s defeat to lowly-ranked Cape Verde 2-0 in the away leg of the last round qualifier for the 2013 AFCON which generated a lot of discontent in the country amid growing fears that the four-time AFCON winners may be relegated to a lower division.
Lavagne took over from Spaniard Javier Clemente who failed to qualify the Indomitable Lions for the 2012 AFCON in neighbouring Gabon and Equatorial Guinea last January.
