WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : NO PAY, NO PLAY, INDOMITABLE LIONS SAY

Major league baseball players aren’t the only athletes threatening to strike.

Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, whose lives off the field have been dominated by financial problems, have threatened to be no-shows for Friday’s game at Palo Alto against Brazil unless they are paid the money they have been promised by their soccer federation.

The bankrupt federation appealed to the government, which dispatched sports minister Bernard Massoua to the team’s training camp at Moraga, Calif., Wednesday with a suitcase filled with $535,000.

When the players responded with a fax to the government demanding more, the country’s president, Paul Biya, arranged for an additional $400,000 to be delivered today.

“The players are losing confidence, and they want a guarantee,” said Coach Henri Michel, whose team tied Sweden, 2-2, in its first game Sunday at the Rose Bowl. “It’s difficult to concentrate on games.”