Youth Football : Performance Keeps Dropping

The Cadet Lions of Cameroon have been bundled out of the ongoing U17 TotalEnergies AFCON in Morocco at the group stage. The Lions left the competition with just one point after three matches. This is the second consecutive time the U17 Lions have been eliminated prematurely in the competition. The performance of the Lions leaves little or nothing to write home about. The U17 Lions put up an excellent performance during the UNIFFAC tournament, scoring 21 goals in the zonal qualifiers and 12 goals in three warm-up matches. However, the Lions were a mere shadow of themselves during the AFCON. The team played well but was limited in front of goal, leading to their premature elimination.
The most painful part of this elimination is evidently not just the fact that the Cadet Lions could not qualify for the quarterfinals, but the fact that they could not secure one of the 10 available spots for the FIFA World Cup in this category, which is scheduled for this year in Qatar. The quarterfinalists qualify directly, while the best third-placed teams play a tournament to determine the last two tickets for the World Cup. Cameroon, finishing bottom in Group B, could not even take part in this mini-tournament. This illustrates how standards have dropped, especially as Cameroon won the trophy barely six years ago.
The elimination of the U-17 Lions comes after the U-20 Lions also failed ...