CHAN: Reports say witchdoctor imposed player on Coach Martin Ndtoungou Mpile to start Mali game

In an affair that almost saw the resignation of the A Lions team coach, a witch doctor who was accompanied by some state officials reportedly forced the Coach to field a player who had not been drawn in the lineup just some few minutes to kick-off time in Cameroon’s second group game against Mali in the ongoing CHAN2020.

Before the game, some members of staff reportedly went to Coach Martin Ndtoungou Mpile with a witch doctor. The witch doctor allegedly imposed to coach Mpile that he had to field Karl Junior Ndedi into the starting lineup, something which the coach was against firstly because it was going to work against his tactical setup and secondly because the player mentioned was suffering from an injury.

The head coach would later bow to pressure after some nerve-wrecking discussions with the members of his staff. Coach Martin Ndtoungou Mpile was not sure how fielding a player suffering from an injury was going to be helpful in such a crucial game as the one with Mali, but he was pressured and told that Cameroon was going to score early and win the game if Junior Ndedi started the game.

Etame Ngome was the player that was sacrificed for Karl Junior Ndedi to begin the game. However, things were never meant to go according to plan as Cameroon did score early, only to concede 5 minutes later through a free-kick.

What’s more, is the fact that the fault, which led to the set-piece goal, was caused by none other than Karl Junior Ndedi. The mistakes from the latter were countless. He was not physically sound and had to give in to injury just 24 minutes into the game.