Get Guardian on Google
Cameroon’s coaches are pondering how to salvage their team even before the start of the 2017 African Nations Cup following the withdrawal of seven top stars from their 35-man provisional squad, reports africanfootball.com.
Cameroon coach, Hugo Bros, has raised the alarm over the availability of the country’s top stars, including Liverpool’s Joel Matip, Allan Nyom from West Bromwich Albion, Ajax Amsterdam goalkeeper, Andre Onana, Guy Roland Ndy Assembe of Nancy and Andre Zambo Anguissa from Olympique Marseille.
Others, who have opted out are Maxime Poundje of Bordeaux and Ibrahim Amadou from Lille.
[ad]
Matip has insisted on continuing his self-imposed exile from international football after his bad experience with the previous Indomitable Lions coaches, while Onana, Assembe, Nyom have put club before country so as to maintain first-team places at their various clubs.
Poundje has opted to try his luck with France instead of Cameroun.
However, Cameroon could still get these top stars to feature at the AFCON should they report them to world football governing body, FIFA.
For the 2017 AFCON, Cameroon are drawn in Group A alongside hosts Gabon, Burkina Faso and debutants Guinea Bissau.
They are also pitched against Nigeria, Zambia and Algeria in the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Indomitable Lions are second in the group with two points from as many matches, four points behind leaders, Nigeria, and both teams clash in a double-header from August 2017.
