Cameroon’s road to the Africa Cup of Nations turned out to be a disaster, with the rift between the two teams, the conflict of the coach, and the new allegations against Samuel Eto’o.
Madness started when the Cameroon FA, with Eto’o at the helm, declared that the head coach Marc Brys had been replaced by David Pagou and that the most valuable players Andre Onana and Vincent Aboubakar were left out of the AFCON squad. On the other hand, Brys says that he is the one who is managing the team; thus, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Sport and not by the FA. Accordingly, only the state can relieve him of his duties.
“I am still the coach until an official note from the Presidency is presented,” Brys told TV5 Monde, confirming that the FA has no power to dismiss him. Besides, he has his own Cameroon squad prepared for the AFCON and handed it over to the ministry, where Onana and Aboubakar are welcomed back into the Squad.
Moreover, Brys accused Eto’o of orchestrating his removal and deliberately leaving the most important players out of the list. He asserted further that the reason for the personal motives of Eto’o was behind most of the decisions he made, at the same time as the rumor had it that Aboubakar was jettisoned in order to let Eto’o retain the record for the most goals scored for the national team, which stands at 56, whereas Aboubakar has 45.
On the other hand, the government officials and the members of the FA are in a frantic meeting trying to figure out the way out of the labyrinth with only a few days left before AFCON, and the future of the Indomitable Lions, both in terms of leadership and players, is still hanging in the balance.
