Cameroon, coached by Rigobert Song, a legend of African Lions soccer, has announced its 26-man World Cup squad, and Shanghai Shenhua's Bassogog has been selected as expected. This also means that he will be one of the "foreign representatives" of the Chinese Super League in the Qatar World Cup, along with Shandong Taishan's Sun Junhao.
It was certainly a personal triumph for Basogo that he was not named in the African Lions squad when Rigobert Song took over this year. After all, this is the 27-year-old Basogo's first World Cup. Five years ago, despite winning the Africa Cup of Nations with the team and playing in the Confederations Cup in Russia, unfortunately the four World Cup qualifiers he played in came to nothing and Cameroon ended up missing out on the World Cup.
Basogo was an absolute starter in Cameroon while coaching Seedorf and Conceição, playing in two Africa Cup of Nations and the Qatar World Cup qualifiers. He was a substitute at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier in the year due to poor form, and Cameroon lost to Egypt in the semifinals to finish third. Conceição was subsequently sacked and Rigobert took charge of the Cameroon national team in 2017-Song returned to the coach and dropped Bassogo for the world qualifier against Algeria. Bassogo also failed to make the squad on international days in June and September after Cameroon eventually progressed on away goals. So Basogo's inclusion in the shortlist came as a surprise to the Cameroonian media.
Basogo has not been selected for any of Cameroon's five matches this year. Cameroon's lack of offense was a glaring issue, even against Burundi in Tanzania in June. Cameroon lost to Uzbekistan and South Korea during a trip to South Korea in September, much to the displeasure of Eto'o's soccer association and the domestic media.
In fact, Basogo's performance in the African qualifiers for the World Cup in the second half of last year was not satisfactory. In the first five rounds of the Top 40, he only made two substitutions against the weakest side, Malawi. His only start came against Ivory Coast. As a result, the team lost 1-2, he showed nothing and then became a complete substitute. Earlier in the year, he sat on the bench for two of Cameroon's seven Africa Cup of Nations matches, and a semi-final substitute appearance failed to turn things around. In the less competitively valuable third-place game, Bassogo remained sluggish after 54 minutes of his debut.
Basogo will likely remain on the right flank waiting for his chance. In the World Cup qualifiers and September warm-up matches, Rigobert Song tried Verona's Redra and Brentford's Mbewumo on the right flank. They will also be the first choice for the World Cup. As for Basogo, I'm afraid we'll have to try and take advantage of the substitute appearances.
In the whole of 2022, only two people have been selected for the World Cup finals roster. Sun Junho from Shandong Luneng and Shanghai Shenhua's Bassogo. Sun Junhao's selection is not surprising. After all, his strength and the team's performance can be described as stable and the top of the Chinese Super League, but this time Basogo looks much more fortunate, and even have to say that it is a small miracle. The "miracle" belongs to Basogo, Shenhua, and even the Chinese Super League in the doldrums.
Senior management, including club management and head coach Wu Jingui, congratulated Basogo on his selection to all the players after learning that he had been chosen for the final roster. There are still ten rounds left in the league. For Basogo, he can leave the team for the tournament at this time. After all, as far as relegation points are concerned, the team has got them. It depends on whether he can pass the economic level, but that is something he cannot decide.
This season, Basogo has been the subject of a concerted effort by the club's executives and head coach to help. Any foreigner in a state of salary arrears and long-term closure will have a lot of emotions and aversion, which will affect the game form, but Basogo seems to be unaffected by these two points. The Shenhua management has been trying to work on his mindset and head coach Wu Jingui has a different view on his use:
"Basogo is a very professional player. He has a high level of execution of my tactics. He often plays as the only outside forward on the pitch. He has to be a key defensive target for opposing defenders. There is a lot of pressure on him to score goals, but if all the pressure is put on him, it is obviously not in line with the trend of modern soccer tactics and unrealistic."
"So as I prepare for games this season, I have a clear requirement for Basogo. What choices he should make when given the opportunity to score and be heavily pinged, when his team needs to counter-attack or when the opposition counter-attacks, and how his teammates should work with him. I think he's done a great job at this and I firmly believe his manager sees a more rounded role for Basogo and has left a place for him on the roster. I think he deserves that position. We congratulate him as well." Meanwhile, Wu said the Shenhua team will be watching Basogo's game and "cheering him on."
Instead of traveling with the team to Chengdu, Basogo stayed in Shanghai and quietly awaited his first World Cup trip as he was about to leave China to join the team in Qatar.
