Roger Milla the 38yearold with the missing tooth became an authentic superstar during the World Cup in Italy. To most people, Cameroon is synonymous with Milla. But there are those Milla’s teammate Francois Omam Biyik for one who believe the aging hero’s contribution is overrated.

 Francois Omam Biyik, the center forward whose header beat a dithering Nery Pumpido and gave Cameroon victory in the World Cup curtain raiser over Argentina in Milan, has changed clubs in France.

He has gone from Laval to Rennes ‘where he remains sparingly candid playing down the World Cup contribution made by Roger Milla, the 38yearold scoring star of the controversial Soviet coach. Valeri Nepomniachi.

Milla, who played for so many years in France with the likes of Montpellier and Saint Etienne, and has now left the Isle of Reunion for Austria, brilliantly won the match against Colombia in Naples and gave England desperate problems there a few days later having previously scored those two powerfully taken goals against Romania, But all that means little to Omam Biyik

He said: “Yes. Roger proved he was a great player. Despite his age. But you must not forget how well he was supported, now well served. We did the best we could to see he was not starved of the ball.

Future: “Some of us didn’t agree that he should go to Italy. I didn’t agree. Because we had played the eliminators without him, and we had to prepare for the future. But he ‘was imposed on us. And we accepted him. I stick to my guns: I didn’t agree with it.

“He played well, he saved us in difficult moments, and we can only thank him. But didn’t agree with his selection and I still don’t.

So if the World Cup began again next week, Francois was asked would he be against Milla. “Yes, I think so,” was the reply. Even if he wanted to play till 50 he isn’t the same Roger as, say, ten years ago.

“In Italy, if he hadn’t players around him who did an enormous amount of work, he couldn’t have done what he did. We sacrificed ourselves to give him a service. True, he gave us one too, but I still wanted to emphasize the role that his entourage played in his performance.

“And I repeat, if we had to begin again, To choose the workers, the people who could last 120 minutes.

 “If Roger had begun the matches, we would never have got to the quarter-finals, He has a different mentality from the other. He likes to chat, and that distracts you. If he had to play again for the national cam I think he would retain the role of joker, he would come in during the game to help us keep the ball.

“In Italy, he often found himself up against defenses which were physically spent, and he profited from that by exploding.

“When he came on, my role changed completely, I dropped back a bit and went looking deep for the ball, to serve Roger. I became a sort of playmaker. Okay, when he wasn’t there and I played up, there was nobody in midfield to give the ball quickly. That’s why I don’t think Roger would have played in Italy if we had a good midfield.

The Key match, says Francois, was the warm up game in Split, against Hajduk. Cameroon ran like mad, but got nowhere, He had to play midfield, hated it, and said that if he was obliged to stay there, he would drop out, It was then that Joseph Bell the keeper who was replaced by N’Kono after criticizing tactics in Italy took ‘over and re-planned the team’s strategy. Omam Biyik gives little or no credit to Nepomniachi. It would be hard he say, 10 pin down just what he did if anything. The team played pure African football.

Little contact: Bell, by the way, went back to France after his disappointments to resume his place in goal with Bordeaux. Nepomniachi didn’t speak French so had little contact with the Cameroon players.

What to did for the team was extraordinary,” says Omam Biyik “We got to the quarterfinals thanks to him. Bell is a gentleman; He remains an example to follow

Omam Biyik does not deny that Cameroon put it about. They had to he said. Because they were technically inferior to their teams. Read that as refreshing honesty or sheer cynicism, as you please.

Why did he choose to join an unambitious club such as Rennes? He says, he wanted to go to the World Cup with his mind at rest. He had offers from Porto of Portugal and Nantes, but does not regret that he didn’t wait till the end of the World Cup. He knows himself well, he says, “My spirit would not have been at ease.”

The other Omam Biyik, brother of Franois, was dropped by Third Division Metz last season. Now Le Havre have taken him on loan, but Metz see him as part of the squad,

M’Fede, a success in midfield in Italy, ‘was given the bullet by Rennes, when they were going through a financial crisis, and went home to Yaounde “Cameroon players need to be loved,” says Bell.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 9, 1990