The Confederation of African Football has turned down Cameroon’s request to replace 25 year old forward Diederrick Joel Tagueu Tadjo to complete their 23 man squad for the tournament.
Tagueu was ruled out of the tournament on Monday June 24, 2019 on the eve of Cameroon’s opener against Guinea-Bissau after he was diagnosed with some heart defects by the Cameroon national team’s medical team led by Pr William Ngatchou.
Tagueu who has been playing professional football for 12 years now has been running the risk of sudden death all these years given the condition of his heart according to the report from Pr William Ngatchou.
The 25 year old native of Nkongsamba had spent his entire professional career in Brazil for clubs like Cruzeiro and Botafogo amongst others before joining Maritimo Funchal in the Portuguese top flight on loan.
His medical condition which has existed from birth went unnoticed in all these clubs until Pr William Ngatchou diagnosed it after a series of five medical tests.
Cameroon was hoping that CAF could give them a special consideration to replace the player given that it could have been more embarrassing for African football had the situation gone undetected and an unfortunate accident happened that will cost the players life and take the shine off the competition.
CAF has however decided to respect the rules to the letter. The rules state that only injured players can be replaced and the case of Tagueu cannot be judged as an injury, because under normal circumstances the medical team could have made the diagnoses before now and not have the player in the final list of the 23.
Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu or Fabrice Olinga who were possible replacements will just have to wait for another opportunity, most likely in two years when Cameroon hosts the tournament.
Joel has not left Egypt yet, he has decided to stay on to support his teammates against Guinea- Bissau this evening.
He’ll later leave for Brazil for medical attention from the medical team of his Brazilian employers Cruzeiro who secured his services from Londrina in December 2014.
Tagueu is expected to undergo a minor heart surgery and return to the field after three months on the sidelines.
Other big name players to have had heart surgeries and play top level football again are Nigeria’s Nwakwo Kanu and Cameroon’s Christian Bekamenga.
He joint Maritimo in 2018 on loan Cruzeiro after loans spells with Santos, Botafogo and Avai all in Brazil.
Muambo Edward.
