Samuel Eto’o raconte comment il a gagné sa place de titulaire chez les Lions indomptables
Invited to the first edition of Digital B Mentoring, an experience-sharing event in Cameroon, Samuel Eto'o recounted how he earned his starting position on the Cameroon national team. The story is, to say the least, amusing.
It all started in 2000. That year, Cameroon was supposed to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana and Nigeria. Eto'o received a phone call from coach Pierre Lechantre, and what he told him was quite clear.
“In 2000, Cameroonians became acquainted with Samuel Eto'o. I wasn't a starter. Pierre Lechantre called me one evening and said: 'Listen Samuel, I need a 4th striker , I don't want any problems. If you think you're going to come to the Africa Cup and demand a position, don't come, because I don't need that,' reported the current president of Fécafoot.
"I said coach, but don't even bother with me. I'm coming."
He said he automatically agreed to join the French coach because what mattered to him was seizing the opportunity to be part of the squad. "I said 'coach,' but don't even bother for me. I'm coming. I just want to participate with the others," Samuel Eto'o explained.
The coach finally included him in the squad for the AFCON and, as expected, he did not start him in the first match against Ghana.
“I wasn’t starting. The attacking duo was Joseph Désiré Job and Patrick Mboma, two wonderful players. But I thought I could do better. That was legitimate. It’s not arrogance. I tried to prove it in every training session. In every training session, I worked magic; what I did was incredible. Around the 77th or 78th minute (of the match against Ghana), he (Lechantre) asked Pius N’Diefi to go warm up. It wasn’t me, but I pretended to warm up. I went and stood next to the coach. When he walked around a bit, I was next to him. He said to me, ‘But Samuel, I didn’t send you to warm up.’ I said no: ‘I’m the one who should be coming on.’ Coach Manga Onguene (who was there) said, ‘Pierre, bring this kid on.’” "And that's how I got in," says Samuel Eto'o.
"That's how I never left that team again."
It was the starting point of a great adventure with the Cameroon national team. "When I came on, first touch, stepover, left-footed shot, crossbar (laughter from the crowd)... And that's how I earned my place. At the end of the match, Pierre Lechantre ran up to me and said, 'Get ready, you're going to play against Ivory Coast,'" revealed the former Barcelona legend. Before the start of the match against the Elephants, he said he told his teammates that he was going to score before the 20th minute .
“I was bursting with confidence. I had anticipated the phases of play and in the end, I scored the 3rd goal (more like the 2nd according to the records) and that’s how I never left that team again,” said the former captain of Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions.
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