Ruetir | A bizarre communication was made out to the old headquarters of the Nerazzurri club, asking to make the goalkeeper available for the call of the Indomitable Lions after the frictions of the World Cup in Qatar and the consequent expulsion. But it’s certainly not the club that blocks André…
What can’t you do to get your lion back? André Onana, who left the Cameroon national team after the stormy quarrel during the World Cup in Qatar with his coach Rigobert Song and with the president of the Federation Samuel Eto’o, has now become a red-hot political case in Cameroon.
The matter has reached the highest spheres, to the point that even the government of Yaoundé has taken the field in order to have André back with the national team. The novelty arrived by post to Inter in the form of a letter written by sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi to officially ask to place the goalkeeper at the disposal of the Indomitable Lions. The first bizarre thing is the mistake in the header, given that for quite a while now the headquarters have no longer been in Corso Vittorio Emanuele but in Viale della Liberazione.
The request itself is also strange: it is certainly not Zhang’s club that prevents the goalkeeper from responding to the call-up, but it was a choice of the player at the end of tensions that lay under the trace and which exploded in Qatar with the defenestration a few hours from the match against Serbia.
Minister Kombi is not one to hold his tongue, three years ago he asked for and obtained the sacking of another familiar face in Appiano, Clarence Seedorf, then coach, after his elimination at the hands of Nigeria in the round of 16 of the Coppa d’ Africa: “He’s not fit for this job,” he thundered. This time the words are all for Zhang: “André’s statement on his retirement released in a press release is the result of a regrettable misunderstanding with the coaching staff, given that the player has reconfirmed his patriotic attachment to Cameroon and the Indomitable Lions – yes reads in the letter – We kindly ask you to allow this talented goalkeeper, who has so far been one of the strong points of this team, to satisfy his desire to continue representing his homeland and to make millions of compatriots dream.” .
In short, the ball now passes to André, but also to the federation and the technical guide of the national team. Of course, for Onana it is still a wound to have broken up in such a dramatic way with Samuel Eto’o, mentor and friend before being president. It was the ex striker, in fact, who decided the definitive expulsion of the Inter player from retirement during the World Cup, after his old protégé had already been dismissed by coach Song for different tactical visions. They’ve never been healed, until now…