Cameroonian soccer idol Samuel Eto'o has a violent freak at the soccer World Cup in Qatar: The former world-class player kicks a YouTuber in the face after a brief verbal argument. The trigger could have been a game in April.
Cameroon's football icon Samuel Eto'o drew negative attention at the World Cup in Qatar due to an outburst of anger. The former star striker, now his home country's FA president and FIFA ambassador, kicked a man in the face outside Doha's 974 stadium on Monday night, according to a video posted to Twitter by a journalist from La Opinion newspaper.
The incident happened after the round of 16 between Brazil and South Korea (4:1). At first, Eto'o stood by for photos with fans before chasing after a man who was filming him on camera. Other people tried to hold the 41-year-old back. Eto'o broke free and kicked the man, a Youtuber from Algeria, who fell to the ground. The influencer announced in a video on his YouTube channel that he would report Eto'o to the local police.
According to information from the Algerian football portal "DZ foot", the YouTuber is said to have asked the former attacker about the controversial referee Bakary Gassama, who led the World Cup play-off between Algeria and Cameroon (1: 2) in April. In the game, the Cameroonians secured a ticket to Qatar with a goal in the last minute. Algerian striker Islam Slimani had two goals disallowed, one for offside and one for handball - the latter after a check by the referee's video assistant, before Karl Toko Ekambi scored the 124th-minute winner for the Indomitable Lions in Blida.
After the game there had been violent verbal abuse from the Algerian coach Djamel Belmadi: "I didn't like that we would accept something like that. He stole the hope of a whole nation and we treat him like that," said Belmadi, shouting indirectly Attacks against Gassama: "I'm not saying you have to kill him, I'm not saying anything like that. But he's a tyrant, more than a tyrant. Never again will we allow a few people to conspire against our country." The Algerian association FAF had asked FIFA to repeat the game, citing "scandalous arbitration proceedings" that "falsified the result". Association President Eto'o had stated that his association would also contact Fifa because of Belmadi's statements.
Eto'o, who was four times Africa's footballer of the year and won the Champions League four times with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, did not comment on the incident.
