Eto'o decision to be announced on Friday
Reuters - Thursday 15 December 2011, 14:41
A disciplinary hearing
decision about Samuel Eto'o will be announced on Friday,
Cameroon football authorities said, adding that media reports that
the striker had been suspended for seven games were
"speculation."
"The decision has not been made known. This is all
speculation," Tombi A Roko Sidiki, secretary general of the
Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), said on Thursday in
response to rumours and media reports that Eto'o had been
suspended.
Cameroon team captain Eto'o, who signed for Russian Premier
League club Anzhi Makhachkala for a record salary in August, was
summoned to a disciplinary hearing along with vice-captain Eyong
Enoh on Monday after players went on strike in November, forcing
the abandonment of a friendly in Algeria.
Tottenham Hotspur defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto was also summoned to
the disciplinary hearing for failing to turn up after he was
called to the squad for a tournament in Morroco.
The players said they had not received money promised for
their appearance in the four-nation tournament in Morocco the
previous weekend.
"The decision will be made known on Friday and it will be
published on the federation's website," Sidiki said by telephone
from Yaounde.
Local sports analysts and commentators said the federation
is wary of a public backlash if Eto'o is suspended, especially
after the team failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations
set for January in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The suspension of the three players could also jeopardise
Cameroon's chances of qualifying for the next Africa Cup of
Nations in 2013, as well as the 2014 World Cup, with qualifying
matches in the coming months.
The qualifiers for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations begin on
February 28 with a first round match against Guinea Bissau.
Cameroon's first World Cup qualifier will be in June against
Democratic Republic of Congo.
"The decision will seriously compromise our chances of
qualifying for the 2013 Nations Cup as well the 2014 World
Cup... because in the absence of those three players,
particularly Eto'o, I don't see us winning any qualifying
games," said Jean Tagne, a football analyst at Cameroon daily Le
Jour.