By Angu Lesley
Footba writer,kick442.com-Cameroon
The talent scouting mission for coach Rigobert Song Bahanag and the rest of the staff of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon has ended.
One of the biggest revelation from the tour is that in the past 24 hours, Joel Matip has opted not to return to the national team for the upcoming FIFA World cup qualifiers games against Algeria.
“The defender feels it’s too urgent to return at the moment.Besides what if he comes and the team doesn’t secure qualification?” A Cameroonian football expert very close to the Matip development quizzed during a conversation with the kick442.com team.
Therefore Cameroonians have to quickly settle on life without Joel Matip despite the enthusiasm that was already building about his possible return.
The 30-year old Liverpool center-back who hasn’t played for Cameroon since after his 27th cap won during the 2014 FIFA World cup tournament has been touched by talks between his father, himself and the technical staff of the team.
According to the latest twist, Matip’s eight-year exile from International football will continue.
Song led a delegation of Cameroon football officials at a meeting in the home of Jean Matip (Joel’s father) in Düsseldorf on Wednesday evening as they tried to convince the ex footballer to get his son back on board. The Cameroon team later moved to England on Thursday morning and had a meeting with Joel Matip. The optimism generated from all these efforts has ended as just optimism
The Liverpool defender, 29 last featured for Cameroon during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, against the host in a game in which he scored Cameroon’s lone goal in the tournament in a 1-4 defeat.
Since then, attempts by coach Hugo Broos, Clarence Seedorf and recently by António Conceiçao to get the player on board yielded no fruits.
Joel Matip, winner of the 2020 UEFA champions league crown with Liverpool will have certainly being a big addition to the Cameroon backline that already has Michael Ngadeu, Jean-Charles Castelletto, Jean Claude Billong and Harold Moukoudi.
Two sons of Jean Matip, Joel and Marvin Matip, have played for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, while Joel Matip counts 27 caps and one goal between 2010 to 2015 Marvin only represented his country five times.
Matip was born to a German mother and his father Jean Matip, is a former footballer and Cameroonian, just like his Cousin Joseph-Désiré Job who won the AFCON with Cameroon in 2000.
Coach Rigobert Song joins Hugo Broos, Clarence Seedorf, Antonio Conceicao as the coaches Matip has said no to on this aspect of coming to play for Cameroon.
Copyright©2022 kick442.com
All rights reserved. This material and any other digital content on this platform may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written, or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from our management.
This site is not responsible for the content displayed by external sites
