AFCON 2023 Q: Marou Souaibou Making A Case For Locals Amongst Foreign-Based Players

Having been listed as one of two local players in Cameroon’s senior men’s national team – that helped the nation through to the 2022 Qatar World Cup – in March, Marou Souaibou is far from taking his feet off the gas pedal.

Souaibou, 23, was on Wednesday 18, awarded the David Mayebi award, for the best MTN Elite One player of the month of April, before the Cotonites ran riot over group B leaders Eding, with a 3-0 mauling.

Marou succeeded YOSA’s Emmanuel Tegenmo, and nicked the award ahead of Martial Zemba (Apejes), Axel Ndzana (Astres) and Julien Momasso (UMS).

The Cotonsport skipper scored 5 goals and dished out four assists in that month, as the Cotonites looked invincible, queuing up wins against top opponents, to get back into the playoffs puzzle.

In total, the forward is now on to 9 goals from the preliminaries of the CAF Confederations Cup, to competitive Elite One games.

Called up in the list of locals for a camp reserved for players plying in Cameroon later this month, Souaibou and Patient Wassou sound the sanest of choices if coach Rigobert Song opts for a melange of locals and foreign-based players, to play in next month’s AFCON qualifiers.