Hugo Broos: We didn’t show our strength against Colombia

Vincent Aboubakar of Cameroon celebrates a victory with Hugo Broos

Friday Jun 16, 2017. 14:00

Hugo Broos says Cameroon should not be underestimated at the Confederations Cup following their heavy loss in a midweek friendly.

The Indomitable Lions will face Chile in their first Group B match in Moscow on Sunday evening, but come into the match licking their wounds after suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Colombia in a friendly earlier this week.

Yet this loss was not a fair reflection of the team’s strengths, with Broos having made significant changes to the line-up following a win over Morocco in 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last Saturday.

“I cannot compare this match [4-0 loss to Colombia] with the one we will be delivering against Chile on Sunday,” explained the Cameroon coach.

“I wanted to give some players a chance to prove to me what they can do. So against Colombia, we did not play with our core strength.”

Broos added, “It was a good evaluation match for all of us; not just for the players. I had the opportunity to align some players to see what value they have.

“On Sunday, we will have a different team and the motivation will be different as we will be competing in the Confederations Cup.”

The Belgian coach is hopeful that Cameroon will use the Confederations Cup as an opportunity to grow and improve as a team, with challenges like qualifying for next year’s World Cup looming ahead of them.

“This participation will be a very good experience at the highest level,” said Broos.

“I will have a good judgment at the end of the Confederations Cup, especially what to improve, in which game compartment we have to look for other better players.

“We are going to Russia with ambitions, not necessarily that of winning the trophy.

“The ideal for us will be to show better performance compared to what we have demonstrated [in the 4-0 loss to Colombia].”