{"id":27261,"date":"2026-01-28T18:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T18:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/?p=27261"},"modified":"2026-01-28T18:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T18:10:15","slug":"dongou-reveals-turbulent-cameroon-call-up-and-alleged-etoo-ultimatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/dongou-reveals-turbulent-cameroon-call-up-and-alleged-etoo-ultimatum\/","title":{"rendered":"Dongou reveals turbulent Cameroon call-up and alleged Eto\u2019o ultimatum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Ndong Gisela<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sports Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Former Barcelona striker Jean-Marie Dongou has opened up about the difficult circumstances surrounding his second call-up to the Cameroon national team, describing a tense atmosphere, dressing-room divisions and a situation that ultimately convinced him international football was \u201cnot for me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on El After de Post United, Dongou reflected on the 2014 AFCON qualifier against Libya in Cameroon, a period he says marked a turning point in his relationship with the Indomitable Lions.<\/p>\n<p>The forward, who joined Barcelona at the age of 13 and progressed through all the club\u2019s youth ranks to train with the first team, admitted he struggled to adapt to what he described as a different professional environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told myself clearly that this football was not for me. I had grown up at Bar\u00e7a, trained with top players, and the standards were not the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dongou revealed that he travelled to the camp alongside Alexandre Song, his then club teammate, noting that Song also had a strained relationship with Samuel Eto\u2019o at the time. According to the striker, their closeness in camp created early tension when Eto\u2019o arrived late to the gathering in Mbankomo under heavy security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came with an armed bodyguard. He didn\u2019t eat with the group because he feared being poisoned. His brother brought him food. No one could enter his room. For me, it was a shock,\u201d Dongou explained.<\/p>\n<p>The former Lorient and Zaragoza attacker said his lifelong dream had been to play alongside Eto\u2019o, whom he considered his idol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than the World Cup, I wanted to play with him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>However, Dongou claims national team coach Volker Finke later informed him that he would not feature in the match, allegedly due to pressure from the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coach told me Samuel had said: \u2018If he plays, I don\u2019t play.\u2019 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s true, but that\u2019s what I was told.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dongou says the situation deeply affected him mentally, despite being in strong form at club level and training regularly with Barcelona\u2019s senior side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI panicked. Everyone told me I deserved to play. I called my parents. They were devastated. I decided I wouldn\u2019t play. No match, no problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Although Eto\u2019o briefly left the camp before returning on match day, he captained Cameroon to a 1\u20130 victory over Libya and subsequently announced his international retirement in the dressing room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe gathered everyone, gave a speech, then left. It was a real show,\u201d Dongou recalled.<\/p>\n<p>The former Cameroon youth international would go on to fade from the national team picture, his senior international career limited to just two call-ups, as he pursued club football in Europe.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ndong Gisela Sports Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon Former Barcelona striker Jean-Marie Dongou has opened up about&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,37,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-football","category-fecafoot","category-football"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - 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