Cameroon’s Captain Vincent Aboubakar is uncertain for AFCON2023 due to an injury he sustained yesterday in a training session in Cote D’Ivoire and has been ruled out of the tournament.
The veteran striker and captain, whose goals the Indomitable Lions rode on at the last AFCON tournament on home soil, reportedly suffered a leg injury that prevented the 31-year-old from training.
FECAFOOT confirmed that the striker had to shorten his training session on Friday evening due to a serious injury, and the severity of the diagnosis could see Aboubakar miss the entire tournament.
The 31-year-old AFCON 2021 top-scorer will not be part of the Cameroon squad which will play a tough match in Group C against the defending Champions Senegal on Friday, 19 January.
Senegal has been a consistent team, They won the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations by beating Egypt in the final in Cameroon.
The Indomitable Lion of Cameroon would miss the services of their talisman, whom they have been relying on to bang in the goals during the tournament at Ivory Coast.
It remains to be seen who would be drafted in to replace the former Al-Nassr striker.
Since making his international debut for Cameroon in May 2010, Abubakar has amassed 100 caps. He played for them in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, 2017, and 2021 and the FIFA World Cup in 2010, 2014, and 2022.
He is Cameroon’s third-highest goalscorer with 37 goals, eight shy of record-holder Samuel Eto’o.
Cameroon has been drawn into a tough group C alongside defending champions Senegal, Guinea, and Gambia.
The Indomitable Lions will kick off their campaign by facing Guinea on Monday before facing Senegal on 19 January and finally facing Gambia four days later.
The former Al-Nassr attacker led Cameroon to their fifth AFCON title in 2017.