FRANCE 98 – MatchQuotes
Match Number 36 CHI – CMR Quotes Claude LEROY:
” I’ve seen the replay; there wasn’t even a shadow of a foul on that goal. François OMAM BIYICK’s (7) goal was a good one. Players are shocked. We would accept being eliminated, but not like that. It has been a two-month long adventure. The team has been great, they played really well against AUSTRIA. It’s a shame they scored a goal towards the end. We didn’t play too well against ITALY. This has been a tremendous World Cup, organised in an excellent way. I tip my hat in the name of CAMEROON and the whole team to all the volunteers who have been all smiles, magnificent and who have made sure that things would run smoothly for us. I also tip my hat to my team, we must let bygones be bygones. It’s the end of the road for me here. Now, I will work with Pierre MANKOWSKI on the management of the Strasbourg Racing Club.”
Nelson ACOSTA:
“This qualification for the second round is enormously important to us. Strangely, even when CAMEROON was reduced to ten players it was a particularly difficult game, but it turned out well. We recognise that BRAZIL are the favourites – it will be a great match whatever the result, but we’re going to make it hard for BRAZIL. They will have to fight for it. Three of our players won’t play in the next match, and ESTAY (20) will be replaced by VEGA (17).”
François OMAM BIYICK, captain (7):
“There isn’t much to say, except that we’re disappointed with what has happened. Everybody could see my goal was good, but unfortunately for CAMEROON, the referee disallowed it. We still don’t understand why. There is nothing you can do when a referee’s decision is concerned. Of course, once again people will say that Africans spend their time complaining, but I honestly think that was an unfair decision. In spite of what happened, CAMEROON played a good game against CHILE. The spectators in La Beaujoire stadium didn’t see SALAS (11) or ZAMORANO (9) play today, but they saw top-level Cameroonian players. CAMEROON has been eliminated from this World Cup, but that’s life. Now we have to think about the future: I’m confident we’ll have an even stronger team in four years’ time. Let’s forget all this, we’re on holiday now.”
Patrick MBOMA (10):
“On the move, I passed the ball to OMAM BIYICK (7), who kicked it into the net – I have no idea why the referee refused it. It’s difficult not to be disappointed when you leave a World Cup in such a way. From today’s match, we deserve to play BRAZIL at the Parc des Princes more than the Chileans do. JOB (21) and I could have done with more time to get used to each other. Still, I’ll remember scoring in the World Cup, even if that’s no real comfort. We’ll be back in four years’ time – and we’ll go far.”
Jacques SONGO’O (1):
“The referee decided today that CAMEROON wouldn’t make it to the second round. However, we’ve shown that in spite of the lack of experience of some of our players, we’re a very good team. We’re all wondering how the referee could have disallowed OMAM BIYICK’s (7) goal, which was perfectly valid. It will take us some time before we accept such a slip, but we’re a strong team and we’ll get over it. CAMEROON leaves the World Cup with their heads held high.”
Joseph-Desiré JOB (21):
“This is a big disappointment, the whole team is down. The referees were against us today. Personally, I’m happy to have started this match and I’m satisfied with my performance. At the beginning of the game I was amazed at the speed of the Chilean defence, but I coped.”
Salomon OLEMBE (20):
“We really can’t accept this unfair decision. The referee will not be welcome in CAMEROON if he wanted to spend a holiday there. We should have beaten CHILE. This World Cup has taught me to see the game in a different light. I didn’t have time to adapt to the other midfielders’ game. However, it has been a tremendous adventure.”
Ivan ZAMORANO, captain (9):
“Last night I dreamt that we’d qualified for the second round, and that we’d be playing BRAZIL. Of course, I’m overwhelmed by our historic qualification. We’re already focusing on the match against BRAZIL. I’ve played only once against the Seleçao team, and CHILE won. I don’t want to comment on Claude LE ROY’s statement about CAMEROON’s disallowed goal, I don’t really care. I want to thank all Chileans today, especially those in Santiago who will be celebrating our victory tonight with a huge carnival. This World Cup has definitely been the greatest experience of my life as a footballer.”
Javier MARGAS (5):
“I’m very happy but I never doubted we’d win: the team has always been very confident. It’s true we didn’t play a very good game, but this win will send us into the next round, which is what matters. The entire team is exhausted, the pitch was very hard. In fact I finished the game with a pulled muscle. CAMEROON finished with only nine players because they played an overly-violent game. There’s nothing more to add. Now we’ll have to concentrate on our match against BRAZIL which will be a very difficult game.”
Jose SIERRA (10):
“Today I scored the most important goal of my life. It is very important for our country for us to be in the second round of the World Cup, we’ve pleased millions of people. Our next challenge is to play a good match against the world champions. Whatever happens now will be icing on the cake. I don’t feel that the suspensions of VILLARROEL (15) and PARRAGUEZ (7) will disadvantage us much – the Chilean squad is made up of 22 great players.”
Pedro REYES (6):
“We really felt the physical presence of the Cameroonians in this very rough and stressful match. After they equalised, our coach warned us that ITALY was leading their match. This may explain the boost we gave to our defence. We didn’t want to take any thoughtless risks, especially as we were 11 playing against 10 Cameroonians. Our substitutes are going to be able to prove what they are capable of when we play BRAZIL, since three of our players have been suspended for the second round.”
