Emile Mbouh may not be a household name, but his story is inextricably intertwined with the history of the . Across two editions of the global showpiece, in 1990 and 1994, the Cameroon midfielder faced off against Diego Maradona, Carlos Valderrama, Romario's Brazil and Paul Gascoigine's England.
Mbouh fell in love with football when one of his older brothers took him to watch Cameroon play against Zaire (now Congo DR) in an AFCON qualifier. Until that moment, Mbouh had watched his siblings play in the streets and occasionally joined in, but never thought much of it. Watching Cameroon changed everything.
"I watched the game and felt like I was dreaming," Mbouh told FIFA in an exclusive interview. "But it was just an occurrence. I didn't yet dream of becoming a professional football player."
Born in 1966 in Douala, Mbouh grew up listening to matches on the radio. Television did not reach Cameroon until about 1988. "We would just listen to the journalists commentating the game," he said. "Visual were in the newspaper. That's how we knew who was who."
His brothers were fans of the big players from Brazil, but Mbouh found his idol closer to home. "My favourite was a player from Cameroon: Gregoire M'Bida. It's because of him I said I wanted to play football. He was No8, so I wore No8 because of him."
M'Bida was an attacking midfielder with style and grace who represented Cameroon at the 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain™, and was nicknamed Arantes as an ode to Pele. Though creative in his own right, Mbouh did not earn such plaudits for his creative play, instead he became a midfielder known for his ability to shuttle between the penalty areas, a role which allowed him to go up against some of football's greatest creators.
"I was very technical. I was a box-to-box midfielder, because I was never tired," Mbouh recalled. "I was just happy to be on the field."
After playing with his brothers in a local pick-up match, Mbouh was asked to play in a summer tournament for a local side, aged just 15. His performance in the first game of the tournament caught the eye of a scout from professional club Union of Douala. He joined the club and his career accelerated such that five years later he was representing Cameroon at Italia '90.
Cameroon's first game in Italy was against the reigning world champions Argentina, led by their talisman Diego Maradona. Nobody gave Cameroon a chance and yet they came away from Milan with a famous victory.
"We were in big admiration of Maradona because he was the best player in the world and everybody was talking about him," Mbouh recalled. "When we qualified for the World Cup and we were drawn against Argentina, everybody said 'Oh you're in trouble'."
Never one to shirk his responsibilities, Mbouh approached the match with his usual mindset: "I just played my game. I always told myself 'just have fun and play'."
Cameroon looked to suffocate Maradona, limiting his time on the ball, with Mbouh playing a key role. The 5ft 5in midfielder recalls his coach saying: "As you can go everywhere, you have to always check that he [Maradona] is not by himself."
"I made it hard for him to play," said the former Cameroon captain. "The first tackle, I went in on him very hard. Then I realised I was faster than him." Mbouh used his speed to limit Maradona's interventions and despite going down to nine men, Cameroon defeated Argentina 1-0.
In the Round of 16, he gave Valderrama similar treatment as a brace from the dancing phenom Roger Milla helped Cameroon advance to a historic quarter-final, where they bowed out to to England on penalties.
Four years later, Mbouh and co were in the USA for the . The tournament did not go Cameroon's way, as the Indomitable Lions drew once and lost twice, including to eventual winners Brazil, and returned home with just one point.
The disappointing result did not mar the experience for Mbouh, who now lives in the USA and coaches at his own football club. "We were shocked when we saw that a lot of people loved football here," he recalled. "It showed at the first game and at our practices. We had a lot of Cameroonians and other different nationalities who came to see us play and support us."
Since permanently relocating to the USA, Mbouh has found the game has improved even more, although he would like to see a greater emphasis on player development.
"People are very big fans of football, but there is a problem with development. The kids are there. The athleticism is there. But at many clubs you don't see people taking time to develop the players. You see at younger ages coaches screaming at players to win. It should be about having fun and learning the fundamentals."
Mbouh acknowledges that seeing players leave the game because of poor development is "heartbreaking." He would like to see kids playing unstructured games, like he did as a child in Cameroon.
"Here in the USA it’s too structured. The kids don’t have the time to go out and play with their friends. Sometimes you need to feel that moment of being free, without any coaching around you. It brings a lot of creativity to your game. That is lacking a lot here." Still, Mbouh is optimistic about the USA's chances at their home World Cup. He insisted that playing in front of their own fans would be a source of inspiration. "I'm rooting for them," he said.
The former Indomitable Lion is happy to see hard work paying off for African sides at this World Cup. "Looking at the structures that people have put up around Africa, you can see the results. Morocco have a very good program and you can see the youth development." He was pleased with Cabo Verde and Congo DR's results and thinks that progress must be emulated by traditional football nations across the continent.
"Most of the countries now in Africa are improving and that's very good. Countries like my country of Cameroon, and Nigeria, need to wake up and realise no one is going to give them anything for free. You have to fight for everything."
For Mbouh, the common denominator so far at this World Cup is that the so called "minor countries" are "pushing around some of the big nations."
Sources: FIFA Official
