The cult of the manager has hit new heights in Cameroon where Rigobert Song’s face stares down from countless roadside billboards and no current national player comes remotely close to rivalling the coach’s fame.
Song certainly exuded a distinctive aura as, fashionably late, he swept into a media theatre in Doha on Wednesday evening. Dressed in a brilliant white tracksuit and with a similarly bright white baseball cap – complete with an outsize peak – crowning his trademark long black dreadlocks, he looked more like a rock star striding on to a stage than a typical football manager.
It was a World Cup like no other. For the last 12 years the Guardian has been reporting on the issues surrounding Qatar&…