BY Afeseh Apong
The father of Cameroon and Bayern Munich forward Eric Maxim Choupo Moting, has insisted that his son/client will not play for the Cameroon National team again, should Antonio Conceição remains coach.
Speaking during a sports show on Equinox Television Camille Just Choupo Moting, who also doubles as the agent to Eric Maxim Choupo Moting, highlighted a series of events that shows the long standing rift between Conceição and his son.
“The problem between Choupo Moting and Conceição, started since 14 march 2021, the day he responded to a called up by Conceição but two days later on Tuesday 16 March 2021, Conceição came before journalists and said that maxim had not responded to his call up, of which he did two days before,” Camille Just Choupo Moting said.
“Conceição lied on that day and FECAFOOT tried to cover him, that’s when the problem started,” he added.
“Immediately after that, the captain armband was taken away from him. Nobody said anything to him, and he was not starting games and when the Captain is not starting it means the armband is given to someone else. When that happened, it was not a problem to him, because to him the essential is for Cameroon to move forward and for him and his teammates to win matches.”
“Taking the armband from him was not a problem. He said so far as I’m playing and helping my country and we’re winning matches, I’m happy.
“The match of September 06, 2021 in Abidjan against Ivory Coast, Choupo did not play even a second and Conceição said he is very technical and can not play on that bad pitch. He said he was protecting his player (Choupo), but allowed him to warm up for 45 second half minutes. You know he will not play, but why make him warm up?
“In the return game at Japoma, everyone thought Choupo Moting was going to start, since the coach said the pitch in Abidjan was not good, but he still did not start, and only entered at the 72nd minute and played just 18 minutes.
“For the match against Egypt, he thought he was going to start, but he didn’t. When it was time for prolongation, he said he had the same feeling like in the Champions League quarter final with Paris Saint Germain, that he could play an important role.
“After the game against Egypt, he was very angry because he could not help his country reach the final, which was possible. We discussed and I told him that Maxim if you want to play the third place game, it depends on how the coach is going to draw his line up. After the last training session before the game, he said he had the impression that the coach wanted to rest players who have played much, and play almost a completely different team. When he told me, I said Maxim you don’t have to play this match. You love your country and what we wanted was helping your country to play at least the final. You have not been able to do that and when you want to play the third place, it’s as if you’re coming in just when Cameroon does not need you. I told him as his agent that he should not play that match, if the coach was not lining up a strong team.
Choupo Moting’s name actually featured in the first lineup that made rounds on Social media few hours before their game against Burkina Faso on Saturday, but surprisingly he was not even on the bench when then final lineup was made known. His agent Camille Just Choupo Moting says it was a well planned strategy.
“It was strategy, because Conceição said during the press conference that there was no problem, of which there’s a problem. So I told him to wait for the lineup, when the lineup is out, you go and tell the coach that you’re not playing. Why did the coach want him to play when the other regular starters were benched? There’s lots of risk and probability that it could not go well and the coach will have reasons to prove himself that see why I don’t play him.
What Conceição and Choupo Moting said
Before the classification game against Burkina Faso, questions were asked about why Choupo Moting was not having enough game time, but Conceição quashed away all suggestions of a rift between him and the player.
“Choupo Moting is fit and fine. In the course of the game when there’s defeat, people point accusing fingers at someone. Choupo Moting works well, loves his country, plays well and I will say I made my choices. I am already accustomed to criticisms about my choices, so I make my choices and I live with them.
“We have been working together for over 30 days, making sacrifices for the country. The team was quite determined and worked together. These boys were really eager to write history again but things didn’t take the right turn. People are saying a lot of things, making lots of criticisms, but Choupo Moting has no issues with me.
After the indomitable lions overturned a three goals deficit to beat Burkina Faso on penalties, Choupo Moting had some time to chat with journalists in the mix zone, though he didn’t feature in the game.
“Everyone was disappointed that we didn’t qualify for the final, so we had to show a last good face. It was a difficult game but to comeback from three nil down, I will say it is a very good sign and I’m happy we won and took the third place for the team and the entire nation.
When asked about him not featuring in the game, Choupo said;
“To be honest, I talked to the coach before the game and I explained to him that I don’t feel free to play and this game was very important today and you need to have players on the pitch who are free in their minds and can give everything. To be honest I have been observing a lot of things for a while now especially in the quarter final and the semi final, the coach showed me that he is not counting on me. For me it was a kind of disrespect because I came here to help the team win the AFCON. I’m not a young 18_year_old player, I want to give everything, I want to play but at the end of the day I respect every decision from the coach, he is the boss but you don’t have to understand it. I didn’t agree with the he did and this is the reason I told him that I wasn’t free to play today but I will always be happy to represent Cameroon as my country, I’m proud to represent Cameroon, so it’s just difficult with this coach.”
Eric Maxim Choupo Moting played just 160 minutes for Cameroon at AFCON 2021, starting two games, and coming in as a substitute in two others.
Choupo Moting came in at the 69th minute to replace Karl Toko Ekambi in the opening game against Burkina Faso, Started the second game against Ethiopia and last 56 minutes and replaced by James Lea Siliki, Came in at the 70th minute against Cape Verde to replace Moumi Ngamaleu, Started against Comoros and lasted 63 minutes and was replaced by Clinton Njie. The Bayern Munich’s forward didn’t play a role in the quarter final game against Gambia, and the semi final defeat against Egypt.
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