Eto’o to Cameroon Sports Minister: Mind your schedule of duty
FECAFOOT President Samuel Eto’o has become embroiled in a row with Cameroon’s Sports Minister over the future of head coach Antonio Conceicao as the fallout from the country’s third-place finish Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) continues.
In what could pass for reminding the Sports Minister that there is division of duty and it is in the best interest of all to play their own wing, Eto’o told Narcisse Mouelle Kombi any decision concerning a managerial change ultimately rested with Cameroon’s Football Association (FECAFOOT), of which he is the president.
Earlier this week, Kombi had told Cameroonian broadcaster CRTV that Conceicao would be in charge for the upcoming international fixtures next month.
‘Every time we have won a trophy, it has been with a foreign coach. What is more important now is the [World Cup] playoffs in March,’ he said.
‘The priority is not to destabilise the team by decapitating it.
‘We are in a phase of rebuilding. When we look at the record under the Conceicao era, we have two defeats out of 23 matches, and 14 matches without conceding a goal.
Eto’o, however sees the Minister’s submission as over syllabus and swiftly reminded him that deciding the future of the national team’s manager was not part of his remit.
In a letter addressed to Kombi, the former Barcelona, Chelsea and Inter Milan striker pointed out a presidential decree from 2014 stated that the ‘FECAFOOT is in charge of the administrative, sporting and technical management of Cameroon’s national teams.’
He added choosing to continue with Conceicao or appointing a new manager remained a prerogative of the Cameroonian FA and not something the Sports Minister could decide upon.
Cameroon hosted AFCON for the first time in 50 years last month, but the Indomitable Lions’ hopes of reclaiming the title they last lifted in 2017 came to an end as they lost to Egypt on penalties in the semi-final.
Cameroon eventually finished third after coming back from 3-0 down in the third-place playoff to beat Burkina Faso on penalties, but that wasn’t enough to prevent Conceicao from being heavily criticised in some quarters.
The Portuguese, who has been in charge of Cameroon since 2019, was lambasted for poor tactical decisions and for persisting with what his detractors consider a dull brand of football.
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Cameroon will be locked in a two legged World Cup playoffs against 2019 Nations Cup winners Algeria who crashed out early in this year’s Nations cup and will be fighting tooth and nail to earn a ticket to the world cup.
Only five countries out of the 10 African countries involved in the playoffs will be in Qatar in November.