Cameroon's head coach Hugo Broos throws in the towel conceding Les Lions will not make World Cup

CAMEROON'S head coach Hugo Broos has conceded that his team is unlikely to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia following Friday's devastating four nil loss to Nigeria in Uyo that has left the Indomitable Lions with just two points from three games.

Along with Algeria and Zambia, Cameroon and Nigeria are in what has been dubbed Africa's Group of Death in the Russia 2018 qualifiers. Only one team out of the quartet will qualify for the Mundial and on Friday, Cameroon, who got off to a shaky start in the qualifiers, threw away its slim chance of getting through by suffering a heavy defeat in Nigeria.

After three games, Cameroon is sitting second from bottom at the halfway stage, trailing behind Nigeria with nine points and Zambia with four points. Tomorrow, Cameroon host Nigeria in the return leg in Yaounde and Mr Broos has conceded that even a victory there may not be enough to see his team qualify.

Mr Broos said: “There is no pressure anymore on Monday, Nigeria have nine points, we have two points. We need to win all three games and Nigeria have to lose all three games and I don’t think that will happen as there is only an honour to defend, there is no importance to this.

"I just hope my players will have the same mentality that I have, that they will fight on Monday till the last minute to beat Nigeria. If we had won this game, we would have a chance but we lost it and I hope everyone will learn from this.”

Goals from Odion Ighalo, Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Kelechi Iheanacho sealed the win and despite the fact that mathematically, Cameroon can still qualify, Mr Broos is refusing to hold any hopes of a miraculous route to Russia. Cameroon are the reigning African champions after their triumph over Egypt in the Nations Cup final in Gabon earlier this year and have played in seven World Cups.

"We started the second half and after 15 minutes we conceded the third goal and after that, we were not a team anymore, as everyone was down. We did not have the power anymore to fight and therefore we didn’t have any chances and we even didn’t play a good attack.

“I am not afraid of  a sack and I don’t think about that as football is the same for a coach. Today they hail you, tomorrow they kill you, so no big difference with me and I am not afraid even if we don’t make it to the Fifa World Cup,” Mr Broos added.

In February this year, Mr  Broos guided the Indomitable Lions to their fifth African Cup of Nations win in Gabon and then led them to the Confederations Cup, where the team lost two of its three matches and drew one. Unconfirmed reports said the coach may not be on the bench when the Indomitable Lions play the Super Eagles tomorrow.