Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said on Monday that national football team head coach Antonio Conceicao will not be sacked despite failing to win the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy.

“Every time we have won a trophy, it has been with a foreign coach. What is more important now is the [World Cup] playoffs in March. The priority is not to destabilize the team by decapitating it,” Kombi told reporters amid widespread calls to sack the coach.

After Cameroon finished third at the AFCON a week ago, some Cameroonians have demanded the sacking of Conceicao whom they blame for “very poor coaching” during the tournament.

“We are in a phase of rebuilding. When we look at the record under the Conceicao era, we have two defeats out of 23 matches, and 14 matches without conceding a goal,” said Kombi, adding that authorities were confident in his skills but will watch out for any managerial fault.

Source: Xinhuanet