In Italia 90, there was genuine shock when the team made it all the way to the quarter-final. The country partied long and hard before the final showdown. Against England. Cameroon did not have Jack Charlton but they had Roger Milla, equally noted for his footballing skills and his corner-flag celebrations.
Roger, the brother of the narrator Choupi in Max Lobe’s A Long Way from Doula (Small Axes, 187pp, £9.99), translated by Ros Scwartz, is named after his footballing hero. He disappears from his home in southern Cameroon to pursue his sporting dream in boza, the word used by west African migrants in connection with the clandestine journey to Europe.
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