“The Coach Will Focus On The Physical Qualities of Players”

Six players and two injured will not be part of the team for the AFCON. What is your opinion concerning the profile of the players?

I think if they are no longer part of the group it is because they have not proven the qualities expected by the coach to be part of the list of players. So when the coach draws up programme of preparation it is because he wants to see with whom he can attain his objectives. So if they are wounded and they are not part of the team it means they have not fulfilled the necessary conditions needed to go and defend Cameroon in Egypt. When the coach selects a team for the AFCON he tries to take a regular and a double in each post with three goalkeepers. So those who are wounded are those who have certainly lacked technical, physical and maybe strategic strength. So I think that the coach has chosen those who can valuably defend the colours of Cameroon.

What are the chances of the three local players in the team?

I would like to salute the fact that the coach has opened the door of the national team to the three local players. It is not an innovation. It has always happened that way. The young Samuel Eto’o began in the same way. It is the youths who come in complementarity to the old players who are there for a complete team. It is our third time of playing the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. The first two notably in 1986 and 2006 ended with the elimination notably of Cameroon in the final by Egypt after penalty kicks and in the quarterfinals in 2006 by Côte d’Ivoire. I think that it is after taking into consideration this aspect that he decided to introduce youths so as to carry out a strategic variation in perspective for a sixth AFCO...