Former Cameroon international defender Job Joël André Matip has offered the pair of boots he used in the final of the 2018/2019 Champions league final for an auction sale with the objective of raising funds to finance a training program for former Cameroonian players and trainers, to get them up to speed with the modern exigencies of the profession.
Matip have turned his back on the Indomitable Lions but he has not forgotten his roots.
The 27 year old native of Bochum in Germany who represented Cameroon 27 times including playing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where he played two games and scored against the host team 4-1 loss for Cameroon.
In January 2017, Matip was selected for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations by the then Cameroon coach Hugo Broos, but rejected he call-up. Since then all efforts to get him back into the Cameroon national team have been futile.
Matip made 22 league appearances last season for Liverpool and scored one goal but could not help Liverpool get the better of eventual title winners Manchester City.
Despite losing the league to Manchester City, in that highly contested two horse race, the Cameroon defender and Liverpool lifted the highly coveted UEFA Champions League trophy against Tottenham Hotspurs after a 2 nil win in Madrid.
It was Liverpool’s sixth Champions League trophy and Matip became the third Cameroonian to lift the trophy as a regular player after Geremi Njitap with Real Madrid, Samuel Eto’o with Barcelona and . He made eight appearances for Liverpool in their run to that victory, in a season that did not begin so well for him with early injury setbacks.
Matip might have turned his back on the national team of Cameroon but not on his country and compatriots. At just 27, there is still reason to hope that if management in and around the national team improves the seemingly slow but difficult to beat defender might have a rethink on his international career.
Muambo Edward.
