Cameroon’s squad for the Africa Cup 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire is set – and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is missing from national coach Rigobert Song’s squad. Meanwhile, Noussair Mazraoui has been nominated for Morocco
The 34-year-old’s name had appeared in the provisional squad of the indomitable lions, but now the Bayern striker is missing from the final squad for the Africa Cup starting on January 13. This is according to a statement from the association on Thursday morning.
Choupo-Moting has made 73 appearances for the Cameroon national team to date, scoring 20 goals. However, he has only appeared once for coach Song in the 2023 calendar year, in a 3-0 win over Burundi in December. In October, he canceled his international trip “at the last minute” due to muscular problems, as the association said at the time. He was also not in the Cameroon squad for the international phase in November.
He has only made brief appearances for FC Bayern recently, coming on as a substitute in stoppage time in the 2-1 win over Wolfsburg and before that in the 83rd minute of the 3-0 win over Stuttgart. In the current season, he has two goals and two assists in a total of 14 appearances
Kim and Mazraoui nominated for the Asian and African Cups
For Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, this means one less absence in the coming weeks. Min-Jae Kim has been named in South Korea’s squad for the Asian Cup, national coach Jürgen Klinsmann confirmed on Thursday. Right-back Noussair Mazraoui has been named in Morocco’s squad for the Africa Cup despite his current injury. It is still unclear whether he will be fit in time for the start of the tournament after tearing his muscle bundle. Morocco will kick off the tournament on January 17 with a match against Tanzania.
“Imagine if those two had been missing from the squad, then I don’t know if it would have been possible to put in this performance, then we would have arrived with twelve players,” said Tuchel after the Stuttgart game with regard to the record champions’ thin squad. At least the 50-year-old can now call on Choupo-Moting in January and February
