A journey into the unknown
The plane from Kinshasa was due to arrive at 14h00 but it was five hours later before the Indomitable Lions disembarked at the old Jan Smuts Airport, set foot on South African soil and walked through the wood-panelled doors of the international arrivals section.
It was July 1992, 30 years ago now and heady days for sports fans in the country as Apartheid was being dismantled, Nelson Mandela was free and political change in the air.
South Africa had only days earlier been admitted as members of FIFA again and country was now free to host international football. There was no reason to wait and a tour from Cameroon had already been planned to mark the transition from pariah to bona-fide members of the world sporting community.
“THEY WERE PROBABLY THE BEST TEAM AROUND AT THE TIME.”
There was no better choice – two years earlier the Cameroonians had shocked, and then thrilled, the globe with their performances at the World Cup finals in Italy.
“They were probably the best team around at
