Sports
Poor Performance: We Are All Responsible – Eto’o
Samuel Eto’o wants Cameroon to quickly banish the memories of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and turn their focus to the future after a forgettable experience.
The Indomitable Lions failed to register a point for the first time in their six appearances at the competition. They were beaten in all three matches in Group E, by Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands, despite coming into the tournament as one of Africa’s biggest hopes.
“We’re all disappointed, we went to South Africa with high hopes of having a good World Cup, but it was not possible,” said Eto’o. “We cannot go back now.
“We must look to the future. And the future comes quickly because we already play in September. We must reorganise this and try and come back strongly.”
The future the Inter Milan striker was referring to is the start of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. The west Africans, who are pooled in Group E for that campaign alongside Senegal, Congo DR and Mauritius, will be without their South Africa 2010 coach Paul Le Guen. The Frenchman left his post after their exit, but Eto’o refused to blame him for their troubles.
“We are all responsible,” said the 29-year-old. ”It would be easy to say that it was the fault of the coach. But I think the players were equally responsible. We are all in the same boat and it is important not to look for a scapegoat. But Paul Le Guen did what he could and it is not his fault.”
Eto’o, who scored both of his country’s goals in losing causes against the Danes and the Dutch, also asked the people of Cameroon not to be disheartened. “The most important thing now is to thank the people of Cameroon for their support,” he said.
“Yes, we’re disappointed not to meet their expectations, but in football this is sometimes the case. The most important thing now is to reorganise, have a strong plan going forward and do something good.
“It was not all bad, we still had the chance to discover some young players and we can say that in three months we have the qualifiers for the Africa Cup. So hopefully we can restore some pride then.”
The sudden departure of Nwachukwu, a multiple gold medallist, from Team Delta to the Coal City, Enugu , sparked controversy within the sports family, with officials of Delta State Sports Commission accusing the president of the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria, Sunday Odebode, of manipulating the system for the athlete to dump the state.
But Nwachukwu, who broke the World Record to win a gold medal for Team Nigeria in the Women’s Discus F42 event at the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, has cleared the air on the circumstances that led to her movement to Enugu State.
Speaking with The Tidesports source report, shortly after winning the gold medal, Nwachukwu said: “It is not true that anybody aided my movement from Delta State to Enugu. Rather, it was Delta State that forced me to leave because of poor remuneration.