LET'S CUT ONANA SOME SLACK

By Ghanaman

Cameroon goalkeeper, Andre Onana hugged the headlines for the wrong reasons when he reported for Afcon duties on the day the Indomitable Lions were set to play their first match of the tournament. That decision cost him a spot on the match day squad entirely as Head Coach, Rigobert Song chose Devis Epassy and Simon Ngapandouetnbu as the two deputies to Fabrice Ondoa who manned the sticks for the 1-1 draw against Guinea on Monday.

In the days leading up to the 34th edition of Africa’s most important football event, news were making the rounds that Manchester United and the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) had reach an agreement that would keep Onana at the Premiership Club longer than expected, a decision that raised so much eyebrows across the continent.

The 27-year old shot stopper was in goal for The Red Devils’ 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday and almost immediately, set out in a private jet from Manchester to The Ivory Coast, a journey of about 5,000 miles.

Unable to land in Yamoussoukro (where Cameroon were kicking off their Group C campaign on Monday) due to poor weather conditions, the plane had to take a detour to Abidjan instead. It was from there that Onana embarked on another 150 miles journey by road to the Stade Charles Konan Banny, arriving at about 2pm, barely three hours to the 5pm kick-off time.

The former Inter Milan goalkeeper didn’t take his exclusion lightly as he was seen being calmed down by ex Senegalese international El Hadji Diouf.

Nevertheless, why’s Andre Onana being hounded for simply towing a path others before him had attempted to and even walked on?

GHANA 2008

In the build-up to the 2008 African Cup of Nations to be held in Ghana, the then Portsmouth coach, Harry Redknapp formally wrote to the Nigerian Football Association (as it was known then) for permission to ‘share’ the services of two players vital to their season at that point…Kanu Nwankwo and John Peter Utaka.

The plan was for both players to report to the Eagles training camp in Spain on January 6th, but be allowed to return to England 7 days later for an important away fixture at Sunderland and then another game against Derby County a week later. However, the Super Eagles were billed to leave their training camp in Malaga on the same day (January 19th) of the Derby County match, for their base in Ghana. A private jet from the Pompey Club was proposed for this mission to be on standby to ferry the players when necessary. However, the manager of the Super Eagles at the time, Berti Vogts was believed to have kicked against the arrangement.

MOROCCO 88

At the 1988 Nations Cup, the captain of the Super Eagles at the time shuttled between Belgium and Morocco in order to play for both Anderlecht and Nigeria.

The Belgian side were at the twilight of their season in both domestic and continental engagements and Stephen Keshi was a very key player to their cause. So, they reached an agreement with the Nigerian Football Association which would see ‘The Big Boss’ play ONLY important games for both sides.

Nigeria’s first match at the 1988 Afcon was a 3-0 win against Kenya, which wasn’t too important, so Keshi was exempted. But the private jet brought him to Morocco in time for the second game against Cameroon which ended in a 1-1 draw with Samuel Okwaraji putting Nigeria ahead while Roger Milla levelled the tie.

At that point, the Super Eagles were almost through and thought there was no need for Keshi in the final group game against Egypt, which eventually ended goalless.

Nigeria qualified for the semi finals but Keshi couldn’t make it due to an important fixture Anderlecht had. So, the Eagles proceeded without him and drew 1-1 with Algeria but prevailed 9-8 on penalties.

However, the Super Eagles had their captain back for the final against perenial rivals Cameroon, but he too was helpless as Nigeria succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to hand the Indomitable Lions their second continental crown.