Cameroon followed in the footsteps of Japan, leaving behind a spotless locker room at Lusail Stadium after beating Brazil 1-0 in their final Group G match on Friday night.Japan have set the bar so high for both fans and players, sticking behind after every game to clear rubbish from the stands and in the locker room, earning themselves plaudits across the world.Cameroon edged out Brazil 1-0, but were eliminated from the Qatar World Cup despite recording history as the only African team to beat the South American powerhouse at the grandest level of football. The Indomitable Lions had registered two previous victories against the Samba Boys.Cameroon beat Brazil in 2002 in the Olympic Games, and in 2003 in the defunct Confederation Cup.Their coach Rigobert Song has now become the only African coach to have played and won against the record five-time world champions Brazil.Goalkeeper Epassy Mboka was named man of the match after producing fine saves to keep the marauding Brazilians at bay. “We can be proud of what we’ve done tonight because we have shown that we can also be a top team,” Epassy told the media.”We worked hard for each other, we worked very hard. Unfortunately though, we didn’t qualify for the next round. “That’s why we are not too happy, but it’s not on account of tonight’s performance.”Epassy will be hoping to have done enough to prove to coach Rigobert Song that he is ready to be Cameroon’s new first-choice keeper.The Abha player made two appearances in Qatar against Serbia and Brazil after Andre Onana was sent home due to disciplinary issues.Epassy has played seven matches for the Indomitable Lions and kept four clean sheets against Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi as well as Brazil.
