CameroonCameroon - National football team
The Cameroon national football team, nicknamed Les Lions Indomptables (The Indomitable Lions), is controlled by the Fédération Camerounaise de Football and is Africa's most successful side; Cameroon has qualified for the FIFA World Cup six times - in 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010- more than any other African nation. They were the first African team to reach the quarterfinal of the World Cup, in 1990, losing to England in extra time. They have also won four Africa Cup of Nations, they won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In Cameroon's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, the team was grouped with Gabon, Togo, and the Morrocan national football teams. After a slow start in their campaign, with a shocking loss to Togo, and drawing Morroco, the coach of Cameroon, Otto Pfister was fired and Frenchman Paul Le Guen was appointed to be new coach.
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Le Guen's appointment caused an uprise in Cameroon's spirits as they got a win against Gabon in Libreville, followed by another win against The Panthers four days later in Yaounde. One month later they defeated Togo in Yaounde by 3 goals. On November 14, 2009, Cameroon defeated The Atlas Lions of Morroco 2-0 in Fez in their last match of their campaign. Gabon would also be defeated by Togo 1-0 in Lome. Both results caused Cameroon to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa..
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NetherlandsNetherlands - National football team
The Dutch national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). It won Euro '88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina. At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football and was nicknamed Clockwork Orange for its precision passing. In the Netherlands the team is colloquially referred to as Oranje. It is currently ranked fourth in the FIFA World Rankings and third in the World Football Elo Ratings.
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The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905. The players were selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch football association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1, but because the match was for a trophy (the "Coupe van den Abeele"), the game went into extra time, in which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 1–4.[1]
The Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934, and after coming back in 1938, the Dutch national team entered the wilderness of world football. They came out of this wilderness in the 1970s with the invention of Total Football (Dutch: Totaalvoetbal), pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team coach Rinus Michels. The Dutch made huge strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade.
In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone 1–0 up through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before any German had even touched the ball. The Dutch were trying to embarrass the Germans at home while they were only up 1–0. This would prove their undoing. Supported by the crowd, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller led to a victory for the Germans. Despite losing the final Clockwork Orange and Johan Cruyff had written a new page in football's history..
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