Striker Joel Tagueu has been withdrawn from Cameroon’s squad at the Africa Cup of Nations after a medical examination revealed a possible life-threatening heart defect, the country’s soccer federation said in a statement on Monday.
The 25-year-old, who plays for the Portuguese club Maritimo, had an “anomaly in his coronary artery detected by team doctor William Ngatchou which risks his life if he were to play,” the Cameroon Football Federation said.
“On the advice of the doctor, the coach [Clarence Seedorf] has decided not to risk the player, who is leaving the tournament.”
The doctor first detected the possible defect when Cameroon held a pre-tournament training camp in Qatar and subsequent examinations confirmed his suspicion. “The news was greeted with a lot of sadness in the camp. The staff and the players could not hold back their tears,” the statement added.
As Cameroon have yet to play their first game at the tournament, they can still replace Tagueu.
The holders begin the defence of their title against Guinea Bissau in Ismailia on Tuesday.
The risk of heart failure during the game is an emotive issue for Cameroon, whose midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé collapsed and died, age 28, while playing for the Indomitable Lions at the 2003 Confederation Cup in France.
Roundup: Kodjia scores only goal in Ivory Coast victory
The Aston Villa forward Jonathan Kodjia scored the only goal of the game to give Ivory Coast a hard-fought 1-0 victory over South Africa in their opening Group D match in Cairo.
Kodjia made up for missing a gilt-edged chance in the first half with a 65th-minute winner in the Group D contest after being set up by former Leeds player Max Gradel.
Captain Thulani Hlatshwayo had South Africa’s best chance of the first half but headed wide from close range in the 25th minute when Percy Tau clipped the ball to the near post after Ivory Coast failed to clear a corner.
Ivory Coast came close to breaking the deadlock twice in the space of a minute, with Nicolas Pepe crashing a free-kick off the crossbar before Kodjia was clean through on goal after pouncing on a poor defensive header from Hlatshwayo, only to smash his shot straight at goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
Kodjia made no mistake with his next chance in the second half, stabbing home Gradel’s first-time cross after being left in acres of space by the South African defence.
South Africa rarely threatened to find an equaliser but felt they should have had a late penalty when substitute Lars Veldwijk went down in the area under a challenge from Thamsanqa Mkhize.
In Group E, Angola salvaged a surprise but deserved 1-1 draw against an uninspired Tunisia after Djalma Campos hauled back a Youssef Msakni penalty.
In a generally disappointing game, Tunisia went ahead against the run of play in the 34th minute, but failed to build on the lead and paid the price when Djalma snapped in a rebound 17 minutes from time.
In Monday’s late, statistician-confusing Group E game, Mali breezed past Mauritania 4-1 with Adama Traoré of Cercle Brugge scoring his side’s third goal, before being substituted in the second half for his namesake – Adama Traoré of Orleans – who scored the fourth.
Abdoulay Diaby had given his side the lead in the 31st minute before Moussa Marega’s penalty on the stroke of half-time, while Moctar El Hacen scored a spot-kick of his own for Mauritania.