Although Morocco created the best result of an African team at the World Cup in Qatar, the semi-finals; Although Morocco became the first African team to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup as early as 1986. However, when it comes to the African powerhouse that first shocked the world football scene, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup. Even if Cameroon's performance in the World Cups was terrible except in 1990, it does not prevent everyone from having the illusion of beauty that Cameroon is the leading representative of African football. After all, the beating of Argentina in the opening game of that year, and the fact that Milla Sr. snatched the ball from Ikita in the quarterfinals, these images were too shocking.
But in fact, the 1990 World Cup was indeed Cameroon's only bright period in the World Cup, Cameroon participated in a total of 8 World Cups, except for 1990, the other 7 had poor results. And one of Cameroon's most well-known embarrassing records is that they have lost eight consecutive World Cup games. Starting from the 0:2 defeat to Germany in the third round of the group stage of the 02 World Cup, Cameroon suffered 8 consecutive defeats across the tournament, until the 2022 World Cup drew 3:3 with Serbia, which was considered to be the end.
In fact, the teams that have lost eight in a row in the history of the World Cup are not only Cameroon, but also Mexico in the black and white period. However, Mexico's experience is too long, and everyone is still impressed by Cameroon.
However, do you think that an eight-game losing streak is the limit of shame? No. Cameroon has also set another embarrassing record in a single World Cup, in terms of shame index, no less than eight consecutive defeats. To what extent is it stigmatized? Let's put it this way, it's more excessive than Saudi Arabia in the '02 World Cup.
Speaking of Saudi Arabia in the 02 World Cup, that 0:8 must be mentioned. It can be said that the 0:8 game was a shame for Asian football. But if 0:8 is blocked, Saudi Arabia's other two games in the World Cup cannot be said to be too bad, losing 0:1 to Cameroon, which shows that the gap between them and their opponents is not too big. The 0:3 loss to Ireland only reflects the gap in physical conditions between Saudi Arabia and Ireland, conceding three goals in one game, saying a lot less, but saying more is not much, within the normal range.
So, how many goals are conceded in a single game, is it considered a lot? At least 4 goals.
Let's focus on Cameroon. Let's see what happened at the 2014 World Cup.
In the 2014 World Cup, Cameroon continued its losing streak, losing all three group games, just like the 2010 World Cup. But in this World Cup, they lost very badly. Among them, they lost to Brazil 1:4 and Croatia 0:4.
See, four goals were conceded in both games. These two scores may not seem scary, but if you look at the history of the World Cup, there are very few similar examples after the black and white era.
It is not difficult to understand why the black-and-white era is blocked, because at that time, the development of football around the world was extremely uneven, and exaggerated scores were often played. For example, in the 1954 World Cup, South Korea only played two games, one 0:9 and one 0:7. But obviously, the context of football back then was completely different from what it is now.
In the past 30 years, there has been no shortage of tragedies in the World Cup, such as Saudi Arabia 0:8 Germany, North Korea 0:7 Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro 0:6 Argentina. However, most of these teams that have experienced tragedy have only conceded more than four goals in one game, and the number of goals conceded in the other two games is normal, both of which are under three goals, including three goals.
So, Cameroon's embarrassment is manifested. In a total of three games, they conceded four goals in two games, although there was no extreme 0:8 example, but compared to Saudi Arabia in 02, Cameroon looked both fragile and mediocre.
Since the beginning of the new century, African teams have often shone in the World Cup, and even those little-known teams, such as Togo and Angola, who have reached the World Cup, have not lost so frequently and with high energy in a single World Cup like Cameroon.
Of course, that's all in the past. Now that the eight-game losing streak is a thing of the past, Cameroon is gradually recovering. In the Qatar World Cup, although Brazil is suspected of releasing water in the last round, Cameroon has indeed not won in the World Cup for too long, and it is a team like Brazil that wins. Let's hope they get on the right track.