Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz is unhappy with former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o’s comments that compared the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between the two countries to a war.
A video published on the official Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) Facebook page shows a speech by Eto’o, who is now its president, where he uses the word ‘war’ more than once when referring to the game.
The former Barcelona striker, 40, was talking in the Cameroon dressing room shortly after the quarter-final win over The Gambia, but his choice of words has not gone down well with Queiroz.
“It’s a very unfortunate comment, a very bad approach, a very bad message to the people of Cameroon,” the 68-year-old said.
“To make this declaration of war before one game [shows he] didn’t learn anything when he was in professional football.
“Football is not about war. Football is about celebration, it’s about joy, it’s about happiness.”
Alluding to the fatal crush at the Olembe Stadium which killed eight people on Monday, 24 January, Quieroz added: “He forgot that people died at the stadium [a few] days ago.”
Egypt face the Indomitable Lions on Thursday (19:00 GMT).
