Cameroon have been boosted by the return of influential striker Samuel Eto’o for their 2014 World Cup final round qualifier first leg encounter against Tunisia in Rades on Sunday.
The now Chelsea striker announced his retirement from football after helping the Indomitable Lions qualify for the final round of qualification last month.
But after meeting up with government officials the forward went back on his decision and is ready to lead Cameroon to next year’s World Cup.
The Indomitable Lions have underachieved to say the least in recent years despite reaching this stage in the competition and it is fair to say that if Eto’o were to have been ruled out it would have been another huge blow to their chances.
Eto’o has now joined up with the rest of his teammates at a training camp in France as Cameroon gear up for arguably their biggest game since the 2010 World Cup.
Stephane Mbia and Cedric Raoul Loe, though, who are both based in Spain have been ruled out of the clash against the Carthage Eagles. Mbia who is on-loan at Sevilla from Queens Park Rangers picked up a toe injury in a La-Liga encounter.
Also out is Bordeux’s Landry Nguemo after a very light cardiac scare in his teams Europa League clash against Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
Coach Volker Finke has called up Barcelona B young defender Macky Franck Bagnack to fill the defensive gap, while Kaiserslautern’s Mohamadou Idrissou who has been in superb form in the Bundesliga 2 has been recalled.
Tunisia caretaker coach Ruud Krol is in a race against time to prepare his squad for the vital clash.
Krol has included Marseille forward Saber Khalifa who was suspended for the last match against Cape Verde while attacking midfielder Maher Hannachi and striker Fakhreddine Ben Youssef were included from Tunisian outfit CS Sfaxien, who are incidentally also coached by the former Orlando Pirates mentor.
Karim Hagui and Aymen Abdennour, though, won’t take any part as they are suspended.
Tunisia will feel fortunate that they qualified for the final round after finishing second in their group following a defeat to Cape Verde in their last group game. The Blue Sharks, though, were docked three points for fielding an ineligible player allowing Tunisia to take over top spot and subsequently keep their world cup dreams alive.
Cameroon, on the other hand, beat Libya 1-0 in their final group encounter to seal their spot in the final 10.
The Indomitable Lions head into the encounter the odds on favourites having assembled a good record against their North African counterparts over the years.
In the 14 previous meetings between the two sides, Cameroon has won eight, Tunisia two while four games ended all square.
The last meeting between the pair was a 2-2 draw in the first round of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
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