By Afeseh Apong
Newly appointed coach of the indomitable lions of Cameroon Rigobert Song, on Monday made public his previsional list of players selected to face Algeria in a double header world cup qualifiers later this month.
As Cameroonians welcomed the return of goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa, Arnaud Djoum, and Jeando Fuchs in the squad and call ups to the likes of Sacha Boey, Ntcham Olivier and Gael Ondoa, it was rather unfortunate that one of Cameroon’s hottest prospects at the moment Franck Mbella Thierry Etouga, could not find space in Song’s temporal list of 38.
20_year_old Etouga has been making headlines in the Ghanian Premier League, following his Scintillating form with Asante Kotoko since joining from AS Fortuna.
If players form is something to go by, then Etouga is one of Cameroon’s in form strikers across the globe at the moment. Rigobert Song’s 38_man list is made up of players plying their trade in Europe, which means that Cameroonian players playing even in some of the best league’s in the African Continent, are continuously ignored.
Etouga has 13 goals in 15 games for Asante Kotoko, and is now topping the scorers chart in the Ghana premier league, and has done far better than most of the forwards summoned by Rigobert Song.
Out of Favour players in Song’s squad
With focus on forward positions where Etouga can easily fit in, Rigobert Song has listed the likes Christian Bassogog, Clinton Njie, John Mary, Stephane Bahoken, Tawamba Kana, amongst others.
Christian Bassogog last featured for his Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, on August 15, 2021, in a 2#4 defeat to Beijing Guoan. Though Bassogog featured in Cameroon’s team at AFCON 2021, he was largely given the bench warmer role, and create little or no impact whenever he was subbed on. More than Seven months after his last game at club level, it is still not clear how Christian Bassogog deserves the pick ahead of a consistent Franck Mbella Etouga.
Dynamo Moscow’s Clinton Njie falls in the same brackets as Bassogog. Njie came on at the 65th minute for Dynamo Moscow, in their 2#0 win over Spartak Moscow on Sunday, in match day 20 of the Russian premier league. It was the first game for Clinton Njie since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. In fact Njie has featured in just 14 league games for the Russian side this season, and has failed to score a single goal.
Stéphane Bahoken, Tawamba Kana, and Ignatius Ganago, are all struggling at club level, and have never really taken their chances with the National team, but yet are repeatedly called up, even when the statistics are speaking loud.
“It is actually shocking to see a list without Etouga Franck given that he is one of if not the most inform Cameroonians at the moment,” sports analyst Joshua Kosimbom told kick442.com.
“As for Njie Clinton and Bassogog I can firmly say there is no present form to show for because they have not been playing and even at the AFCON they were a shadow of themselves. The coach may have his reasons but if the national team is for the best and in form Cameroonian players then I bet to differ from the status of the players on the list and those left out,” Joshua added.
The indomitable Lions will host Algeria in Japoma on March 25, 2022, before facing them four days later in Algiers, as both teams try to get one of the five tickets to represent Africa at the 2022 FIFA World cup in Qatar.
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