Mbeumo Faces Double Cameroon Challenge at AFCON
Manchester United star Bryan Mbeumo must handle the twin challenges of scoring and captaincy when playing for Cameroon at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco this month.
With veteran striker Vincent Aboubakar surprisingly axed, the responsibility for scoring falls heavily on the 26-year-old who moved to Old Trafford from Brentford last July.
Goals have been hard to come by for the Indomitable Lions lately as they failed to find the net in two crucial 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Needing maximum points at home against Angola two months ago to have any hope of automatic qualification, Cameroon managed only a 0-0 draw.
Given a second chance to qualify a month later as one of the best four African group runners-up, Cameroon fell 1-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo in a play-off and were eliminated.
For Cameroon supporters, recalling the past exploits of star strikers like Roger Milla, Patrick Mboma and Samuel Eto’o, consecutive blanks were difficult to accept.
Mbeumo started in both matches, but poor service from midfield and tight marking meant scoring opportunities were scarce.
Aboubakar was the eight-goal leading scorer in the 2022 AFCON as hosts Cameroon finished third behind Senegal and Egypt.
It was an outstanding performance in the modern era of the premier African football tournament, finishing just one goal shy of matching the 1974 record of Congolese Ndaye Mulamba.
But Mbeumo was left without a potentially key partner in attack when new Cameroon coach David Pagou omitted Aboubakar from the Morocco-bound squad.
