Cameroon boss takes dig at Liverpool 25-year-old following AFCON triumph
By Danny Wright
Cameroon boss Hugo Broos has said that Liverpool’s Joel Matip will regret his decision to make himself unavailable for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 25-year-old was one of seven European-based players who snubbed a call-up to represent their national team in the bi-annual tournament in Gabon.
Cameroon won the tournament on Sunday as they came from a goal down to beat Egypt 2-1 for their fifth title.
“There was a lot of trouble before, players who wouldn’t come with us,” said Broos to Sky Sports after the game.
“Okay, it’s their decision. But maybe they are saying now to themselves, ‘S***! Why didn’t I go with them?’
“We came here and I think nobody thought we would go so far. We tried to get through the first round. We did it. So we said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens against Senegal’. We won the game again.
“Then you get a boost of confidence and from that time we believed that if we got a bit lucky we could win the final.”
Matip missed seven games through injury just before the Africa Cup of Nations began and during the tournament he made four appearances for Liverpool, of which his side lost three and drew one.
Since joining from Schalke on a free in the summer, Matip has made 15 Premier League appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The centre-back was one of several players who rejected the call up due to bad experiences with the previous technical staff.
Fellow Premier League player Allan Nyom of West Bromwich Albion also refused his call-up whilst other notable players who followed Matip were Andre Onana of Ajax and Ibrahim Amadou of Lille.
Cameroon’s route to the final wasn’t the most simple. They finished second in Group A with five points after struggling to a 0-0 draw with host side Gabon.
They beat Senegal in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals before beating Ghana 2-0 and Egypt to lift the title for the first time since 2002.
Cameroon hosts the next edition of the African Cup of Nations in 2019.
In other Liverpool news, Klopp discussed future of underperformer.
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