Knee injury robs Song of crucial game against Senegal

Cameroon has been dealt a major blow with news combative midfielder Alex Song will miss the crunch AFCON qualifer against Senegal through injury.

The Arsenal star who was thought to be feigning injury was finally ruled out after series of medical examinations by Cameroon’s medical team on Monday.

“A test carried out by the medical staff of the Cameroon national team made us to confirm that Alex Song really had an injury and was not pretending,” an official of Cameroon FA (Fecafoot) told reporters in Yaoundé on Tuesday.

“However, we came to a conclusion that he should stay with the rest of the team throughout preparations till match day,” he said.

A number of local tabloids had suggested that the player was using a phoney injury to snub coach Javier Clemente and the entire team once again.

It has eventually emerged that the player has not completely recovered from the knee injury sustained during the latter part of Arsenal’s Premier League campaign.

Meanwhile, the team had its first training session on Tuesday morning at the match venue of Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium before a cheering crowd, but the side was without captain Samuel Eto’o, OSC Lille centre back Aurélien Chedjou and Tottenham Hotspur’s Benoît Assou-Ekotto.

With just four points out of three games, behind leaders Senegal by a staggering five-points, it is imparative the Indomitable Lions wins the wekend’s match-up against the group leaders to keep alive their chances of qualification for the 2012 AFCON to be jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.