Liverpool defender Joel Matip opens up about Cameroon saga after refusing to compete at the African Nations Cup
Defender was at the centre of a battle between his national side and his club and now wants to move on from the situation
JOEL MATIP has shed light on why he stopped playing for Cameroon as the Liverpool defender wants to get over the saga.
The 25-year-old chose to stay with Liverpool, rejecting a call up from his national team to compete at the African Cup of Nations.
This sparked a war between the Reds and Cameroon, with the latter taking the situation to Fifa as they went on to win the tournament in Gabon.
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Matip, who has featured just once for Cameroon since the 2014 World Cup, is relieved to the put the matter to bed.
Matip told The Times: "It was not always easy for me, but I hope this chapter is now finished.
"I did not understand what was going on around me. I only wanted to stay here at Liverpool and play. In the last two years after the World Cup [in 2014], I was only on international duty one time.
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"I tried to play and represent my country, do my best and achieve something but all the surrounding things were not the best.
"I always tried it and tried it. I spoke to the old coach a lot and he always tried to change some things. I said, ‘OK, I will try it again’.
"I tried it again and again and, at one moment, you have to say it is enough. You cannot keep saying, ‘Maybe next time it will get better, it will get better’.
"It is Africa and you can never compare it to European things. I never compared it.
"I am not talking about the hotel or having the perfect pitch. It is not that I want something special.
"But it would have been good if all the people only thought the most important thing was to win something and to achieve."
