Eto'o sent off as Cameroon fall to Portugal

Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o was sent off on his return to the Indomitable Lions side, as his team slumped to a 3-1 defeat in Portugal.

The Inter Milan striker was dismissed in the first half for a second bookable offence in quick succession after returning to the side for their final two World Cup warm-up games.

A frustrated and agitated-looking Eto'o received his marching orders for a high tackle on Portugal left-back Duda, immediately after being booked by the referee for protesting, following the opener from Raul Meireles.

The Cameroonians looked unsettled after their captain's departure, and were well beaten by a Portuguese team who looked a lot more polished and confident ahead of their departure for South Africa - in stark contrast to their visitors.

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The Indomitable Lions are now six games without a win, but drew some little comfort from an impressive debut for German-born striker Eric Choupo-Moting, who has just been cleared to play for the west Africans.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto also put in an impressive performance on the left, after a shaky start.

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Morten Olsen reveals Denmark's 23 man squad for World Cup.

Denmark coach Morten Olsen on Friday unveiled a 23-man squad that will meet the Netherlands, Cameroon and Japan in group E of the World Cup.

Goalkeepers: Thomas Soerensen (Stoke City/ENG), Stefan Andersen (Broendby), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen).

Defenders: Daniel Agger (Liverpool/ENG), Simon Kjaer (Palermo/ITA), Per Kroeldrup (Fiorentina/ITA), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn/ENG), Simon Busk Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar/NED), William Kvist Joergensen (FC Copenhagen), Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga/ESP).

Midfielders: Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen/GER), Christian Poulsen (Juventus/ITA), Christian Eriksen (Ajax/NED), Jakob Poulsen (AGF), Martin Joergensen (AGF), Mikkel Beckmann (Randers), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen/NED), Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg/GER), Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax/NED), Jesper Groenkjaer (FC Copenhagen).

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Strikers: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord/NED), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal/ENG), Soeren Larsen (Duisburg/GER).

Indomitable Lions 30 man squad.

Cameroon names World Cup squad and includes veterans Rigobert Song and Geremi Njitap.

French coach Paul Le Guen has found places for veterans Rigobert Song and ex-Chelsea midfielder Geremi Njitap.

Cameroon will play in Group E in South Africa alongside Denmark, Japan and The Netherlands.

Bassong's Tottenham team-mate Bennoit Assou Ekotto is also included in the squad after missing the Nations Cup in Angola with an injury.

But Burnley's Andre Bikey has been left out of the line-up.

Coach Le Guen is also giving an opportunity to two home-based players John Patrick Abouna Ndzana of Stars FC Yaounde and Patrick Mevoungou of Canon Sportif.

Other notable inclusions are Samuel Eto'o of Inter Milan and Arsenal midfielder Alexander Song.

The Indomitable Lions kick off their World Cup campaign on 14 June against Japan.

Cameroon squad:

Goalkeepers: Guy Roland N'Dy Assembe (Valenciennes), Idriss Carlos Kameni (Espanyol), Hamidou Souleymanou (Kayserispor), Patrick Tignyemb (Bloemfontein Celtic)

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Defenders: Patrick Abouna (Astres Douala), Benoit Assou Ekotto (Tottenham Hotspur), Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham Hotspur), Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes), Aurelien Chedjou (Lille), Geremi (Ankaragucu), Boukar Makadji (Al Nahdha), Nicolas Nkoulou (Monaco), Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor)

Midfielders: Achille Emana (Real Betis), Enoh Eyong (Ajax Amsterdam), Jean Makoun (Olympique Lyon), Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslautern), Joel Matip (Schalke 04), Patrick Mevoungou (Canon Yaounde), Marcel Ndjeng (Augsburg), Landry Nguemo (Celtic), Alexandre Song (Arsenal)

Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Coton Sport), Eric Choupo-Mating (Nuremburg), Stephane Mbia (Marseille, France), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan), Mohamadou Idrissou (Freiburg), Dorge Kouemaha (Club Bruges), Achille Webo (Real Mallorca), Jacques Zoua (Basle)

Japan's samba star is ready for the World Cup

Marcus Tulio Tanaka Japan's Brazilian born defender has vowed to give all for his country in the forth coming world cup

Japan's Brazilian-born defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka has vowed to make his first World Cup a bruising battle he can remember with pride as a hard man among the Blue Samurai.

"I don't want the World Cup finals to be like food that I can't remember the taste of," the J-League Nagoya Grampus player said.

"It would be fantastic if our hard work from the World Cup tastes like strawberries but there is also a possibility it could taste nasty," he told Kyodo news agency in an interview published Wednesday.

"Even if we get hammered and it is not a nice feeling, I want to feel it completely in my body. I don't want to come back home wondering maybe if I could have given a bit more," said the 185-centimetre (six-foot-one-inch) player.

Tulio, who turns 29 on Saturday, is seen as sure to be selected alongside Yokohama F Marinos' Yuji Nakazawa as the main centre backs when Japan face Cameroon, the Netherlands and Denmark at the World Cup group stage in South Africa.

He has scored seven goals in 37 international appearances.

Despite being crowned the 2006 J-League Player of the Year, Tulio was ignored by Japan's then-coach Brazilian legend Zico for the squad that made an early exit from the 2006 World Cup in Germany after losing to Australia and Brazil and drawing with Croatia.

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"Maybe I won't have another chance to play at the World Cup and I just want my whole body to react when someone mentions the tournament in 70 years time, if I'm still alive then," Tulio said.

Tulio first came to Japan, his father's homeland, aged 16, to enrol at a high school as an exchange student and football player. He joined the J-League Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2001.

He moved to Urawa in 2004 after a year on loan to a second-division side and helped the country's best-supported team win the AFC Champions League title in 2007. He signed with Nagoya in January.

Tulio, who obtained Japanese nationality in 2003, will become the third Brazilian-born player to represent Japan at the World Cup, following Wagner Lopes in 1998 and Nagoya team-mate Alessandro Santos in 2002 and 2006.

He admitted he was at first sceptical of Japan coach Takeshi Okada's ambitious goal of a semi-final spot in South Africa.

"To be honest I also thought 'what?' first of all, but we have played against a number of strong opponents and I see no reason why we can't achieve that," he said.

Camerooon lines up Slovakia, Serbia friendlies

Cameroon has lined up friendlies with Slovakia and Serbia in preparation for the 2010 World Cup.

The Indomitable Lions have already lined-up a World Cup warm-up against Slovakia in Klagenfurt on 29 May.

They will also play Portugal in a friendly in Lisbon on 1 June.

"These countries were chosen as sparring partners because their style of play is similar to that of our World Cup group opponents," the Cameroon FA said on its website.

The Indomitable Lions have been drawn in Group E alongside Netherlands, Denmark and Japan for the 2010 World Cup.

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The tournament starts in South Africa on 11 June.

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Le Guen weighs up local players

Cameroon's coach Paul Le Guen is looking to local players to complement his squad ahead of the World Cup.

Paul Le Guen is broadening his net ahead of the World Cup and has called up 24 locally-based players to a training camp in Yaounde later this month. The five-day exercise, which is aimed at identifying possible new talent, will also have striker Francis Ambane, based at Algerian champions Entente Setif, and Alfred Mfongang, who plays for AS Vita Club in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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The Indomitable Lions team has long been dominated by players in Europe, but Le Guen had promised to pay more attention to the home-based talent that many of his predecessors were accused of neglecting.

Cameroon's squad at January's African Nations Cup finals was made up only of overseas-based players. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals.

At this year's World Cup in South Africa, Cameroon have been drawn in Group E with Denmark, Japan and Netherlands.