Moukandjo: “If Eto’o does not dismiss Song before the CAN, that would mean that…”

The starving record of Rigobert Song on the bench of the Indomitable Lions continues to provoke reactions in Cameroon, two months before CAN 2023. The last to react, former international Benjamin Moukandjo.

If a departure of the head of the Indomitable Lions this year, less than 100 days before CAN 2023 in Ivory Coast (January 13-February 11, 2024), is unlikely, Rigobert Song is in any case no longer unanimous within the Cameroonian sports public.

Many believe that the former defender is no longer the man for the job. And it’s not Song’s starving statistics that will argue in favor of the ex-West Ham defender either. Although he qualified Cameroon for the 2022 World Cup ahead of Algeria, the coach nevertheless displays a poor record at the head of the Indomitable Lions: only 4 victories to his credit on the Cameroonian bench (7 defeats and 5 draws) in 16 meetings.

But for the former captain of the Lions, Benjamin Moukandjo, the timing is not one of the best to consider dismissing the Cameroonian technician. “From an accounting standpoint, I’ll be honest: no. When you lost 7 games and only won 4, it’s too few for a team like Cameroon“, declared the former Lorient striker in an exclusive interview with Afrik-Foot.

“ From my position I am very poorly placed to draw lessons from his record. If he is still there, that means that the president of the Federation still trusts him. This is the reason for its maintenance. If he is there, it is perhaps because those who decide see in him (Song) the ability to redress the situation. We will trust these people. We are qualified and I think it would be premature and illogical to change coaches midway through. We have a CAN to prepare”added the Cameroonian.

As a reminder, Cameroon is in the death pool at CAN 2023, with Senegal, Gambia and Guinea as co-tenants in group C.