Who was Valery Nepomnyashchy: the Soviet coach who almost led Cameroon to glory in 1990

There are many surprising and heroic stories at the World Cup, but if we think about Italy 1990, most fans will agree that the most epic was Cameroon's, which, with players like Roger Milla, Tommy N'Kono, Omam-Biyik, and Makanaky, reached the quarterfinals, where they had England on the ropes. This Sunday, we'll remember the coach who made that possible: Valery Nepomnyashchy.

Valery Kuzmich Nepomnyashchy was born on August 7, 1943, in Slavogorod, Russia. He was born, as you may have seen, in the midst of World War II. His father died on the front lines when his mother was pregnant, and she was evacuated from Moscow to Slavogorod. When he was 4 years old, his mother and family settled in present-day Turkmenistan, where Nepomnyashchy grew up.

His mother clashed with the Soviet regime, and Nepomnyashchy spent five years in an orphanage for children of 'enemies of the people,' until his mother was pardoned.

He practiced athletics and basketball, but he started playing football in 1961, and his peak came in 1965, when he played as a forward for Spartak Samarkand (it's impossible to think of a cooler name—now, by the way, it's Dynamo Samarkand, which isn't bad either). However, his football career didn't last long. In one match, he was hit in the kidney. After that incident, for a year and a half, after every game, Nepomnyashchy suffered from a bout of renal colic. He was diagnosed with a curvature of the ureter and declared a third-degree disability. He was forced to retire at just 25.

After hanging up his boots, he decided to become a coach. He first coached the Turkmen Sports Committee 's football school in two stages (1970-1978, 1983-1988), and then coached Kolkhozchi in Ashgabat from 1979 to 1983.

In the late 1980s, he was offered a chance to leave the country and try his luck in Cameroon. His arrival in the African country in 1988 wasn't without its peculiarities. Nepomnyashchy didn't speak a word of French, so he needed an interpreter from the very beginning. But the most striking thing is that when he arrived, the Russian thought he would be in charge of the U-21 team. However, the senior team didn't have a national team coach, so they appointed him to the position . He signed a two-year deal, meaning he would take charge of the Indomitable Lions to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Cameroon qualified, not without difficulty, but only in the final match against Nigeria. The team was drawn into Group B, along with the reigning champions, Argentina, Hagi's Romania, and, curiously, Nepomnyashchy's hometown of the Soviet Union.

Cameroon shocked Argentina in their opening match, defeating them 1-0 with a legendary goal from Omam-Biyik. In the second matchday, a double from Roger Milla helped them defeat Romania 2-1, and in the final matchday, Cameroon was thrashed by the USSR 4-0, despite the fact that the Africans finished first in their group and the Soviets last.

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In the round of 16, Cameroon defeated Colombia 2-1 after extra time, with two goals from Roger Milla (one of them after a terrible error by Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita), confirming the Indomitable Lions as the revelation of the tournament and the first African country in history to reach the World Cup quarterfinals.

In the final quarterfinal match in Naples, Cameroon faced Lineker and Gascoigne's England. In the 83rd minute, Cameroon led 2-1, but a dubious penalty awarded to England, converted by Lineker, sent the match into extra time, where another penalty gave England the victory, 3-2. Cameroon's World Cup triumph ended, but they won the hearts of the world.

Nepomnyashchy was welcomed as a hero in Cameroon, and in fact, in the capital, Yaoundé, a street was named after him and a bar, "Nepo," was opened, inspired by his unpronounceable name. Despite this, when the Soviet coach's contract expired in November 1990, he decided not to renew.

After a brief spell as a technical advisor for the Chinese federation, Nepomnyashchy took over at Turkish club Gençlerbirligi in 1992. In the summer of 1993, he signed for Ankaragücü, another major club from Turkey's administrative capital, where he stayed for just one year.

This marked the beginning of a period in which Nepomnyashchy coached in South Korea, Japan, and China, until he returned to Uzbekistan, one of the republics that emerged from the breakup of his home country, in 2006. He took charge of the national team , a position he held at the same time as coach of Pakhtakor in the same country. He resigned from both positions later that year for health reasons.

After a two-year hiatus, he took over at Tom Tomsk in Russia in 2008, where he spent three seasons. He then spent a year as a technical consultant at CSKA Moscow before returning to Tom in 2014. In 2018, he signed for Baltika Kaliningrad, where his last position was as director of the youth academy. He is currently 81 years old.

I hope you enjoyed this story. We'll be back next week with more sports.