FOOTAGE showing Cameroon manager Rigobert Song explaining why keeper Andre Onana was axed from their team at the World Cup appears to have been leaked.
The 26-year-old Inter Milan shot-stopper got into a heated row with head coach Song before their second group game against Serbia.
AFPRigobert Song, right, dropped Andre Onana, left, after a row about his style of play[/caption]
Leaked footage has shown Song explaining the Onana situation while at a desk
He is believed to be telling a member of his coaching staff
The disagreement was reportedly over the style of goalkeeping, with the manager concerned by the chances Onana was taking with his feet.
And when they could not come to a resolution, the Inter man was sent home before their 3-3 draw with Serbia and 1-0 win over Brazil.
Despite the positive results, an opening 1-0 defeat to Switzerland ultimately cost them as they failed to progress through to the last-16.
But a clip has now emerged of Song appearing to explain to a member of his coaching staff about the situation regarding Onana.
And the Cameroon boss was subsequently forced to come out and explain the situation.
In the video, Song tells a colleague: “The day of the game with Serbia I told Onana that I needed to talk to him and he started crying.
“I told him, ‘I don’t have time to discuss these issues. I called you yesterday and you didn’t talk to me. I had chats with Aboubakar, Choupo-Moting and Anguissa, who are the most representative players in the team; why shouldn’t I talk to you?’
“Onana puts on a show in training but takes too many risks during games.
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“I told him repeatedly, ‘You should take no risks. Pass the ball wide, not in the middle’.
“He told me, ‘I am playing, I don’t have time to talk to you’.
“When he was at the hotel, he didn’t talk to me, but went to President Samuel [Eto’o] and he sent him I don’t know where.”
Cameroon’s group-stage exit was the sixth World Cup in a row where they have failed to reach the knockout stages.
They have not made the last-16 since they made it all the way to the quarter-finals in 1990 – the first African nation to do so.
Three other African countries have managed the same since then – Senegal in 2002, Ghana in 2010 and Morocco in 2022.
And Morocco will make history if they beat Portugal on Saturday to reach the semi-finals.