Cameroon head coach David Pagou says beating South Africa needs a mentality of steel as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Indomitable Lions, the second most successful side in AFCON history with five titles, came into the tournament in disarray, with head coach Marc Brys fired and two separate squads being announced in administrative loggerheads between the FA President and sports ministry.
But Pagou has managed to rally his side and lead them to the last eight after a 2-1 win over Bafana Bafana – who by his own admission, the better team in Rabat on the evening.
“There’s someone up there guidance and showing us the way, we had some luck so we’ll keep working but our secret is that the star here is the whole team, we will keep working hard on this and that’s our catchphrase here,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“We’re keeping a positive state of mind that’s been our secret to success here in Morocco. We started training on 16 December, a few days before the tournament, but we’re on the right track, we’ve eliminated South Africa…
“We’ve suffered and now we can jubilate this victory, they have done well, but we have a strong state of mind, a team that wins, is the team who wants it the most, I knew South Africa has a good team, technically strong, collectively good. To beat a team like them you need a steel mentality…”
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