By Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Joseph Essama
Published on 2024-01-28 15:21:30
The elimination of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, against Senegal, did not go unnoticed among the national opinion. Invited this Sunday to the traditional debates that took place on television, several Cameroonians gave their opinions. One of the targets of the panelists was Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot). Armand Okol, a member of the Pcrn, was the first to stir things up, stating that “Samuel Eto’o is one of the responsible parties for the failure of the Cameroonian national football team at the 2023 AFCON”.
“The responsibility for the failure of the lions lies first with the executive of the federation. Then you cannot leave an experienced player like Choupo Moting. You cannot leave one of the world’s best goalkeepers on the bench because of mood problems,” added Jean Bruno Tagne, author of a recent book criticizing Samuel Eto’o.
Taking the floor, Edmond Kamguia said, “The Indomitable Lions did not have the level for this 2023 AFCON… The Lions were unable to breathe because of Samuel Eto’o,” once again blaming the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation.
Regarding the technical and tactical choices of the coach, and the technical capabilities of the team, Coach François Ngoumo explained that “in the midfield, we don’t have a player like the English call a box to box. Ntcham and Anguissa overlap each other. As a result, the young Magri finds himself without the ball”.
“For me, the coach should have kept the same defense as in the last group stage match. That means Castelleto, Wooh in the center and Nouhou and Tchato on the sides. How do you start Gonzalez when he didn’t play the first three matches?” questioned Coach François Ngoumo on the TV show Libre Expression.
Fabien Bobo, also on the show, “believes that we did not learn from the lessons of the last World Cup. There was talk of making certain adjustments to some positions after returning from Qatar. But we haven’t seen anything”.
Journalist Jean Bruno Tagne did not hold back, saying “We managed to concede two goals against Gambia, the weakest team in the group. It was evident that against a stronger team, we would have huge problems. The question we need to ask is, were the selected players the best?”
On the show Club d’Elites on Vision 4 channel, Raphael Abouem tried to defend Samuel Eto’o by saying “Samuel Eto’o has worked to make André Onana the first choice for the national team. We must be very careful because in reality, there cannot be a problem between Samuel Eto’o and André Onana.”
“The arrival of Samuel Eto’o at the head of this federation was overseen at the highest level by the authorities,” said Dénis Omgba, director of the media observatory at the Ministry of Communication on Club d’élites on Vision 4. “We need to explain how we selected a 17-year-old who plays for Victoria United, who spends his time playing music with a speaker, and then say that Choupo-Moting can no longer contribute,” he added.
Read the original article(French) on Mimi Mefo Info
