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By Martin Etonge
BBC Sport, Yaounde
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Cameroon's Modeste Mbami has temporarily quit international football
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Cameroon's Modeste Mbami has decided to temporarily quit national team because of differences with coach Winfried Schafer and skipper Rigobert Song.
Schafer accused the Paris St Germain player of indiscipline after the Indomitable Lions' 3-2 loss in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Egypt in September.
As a result, the 22-year-old was relegated to the bench for the game against Sudan in October with Schaefer demanding that Mbami apologises to the team.
The player, however, said that his problems started when he criticised the Schafer's tactics in the game against Egypt.
"Rigobert Song and the coach (Schaefer) work together to impose incompetent players in the team," he said.
Mbami's comments seem to confirm the rumours that some players are not happy with Schafer and Song, despite recent denials from the football association of such a rift.
Mbami said he was surprised to learn in Sudan that some people within the Indomitable Lions set-up felt he was responsible for Cameroon's poor results in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers so far.
"Consequently, I have decided to suspend my participation in the Indomitable Lions team, until the issues are resolved," Mbami said.
Schafer has not reacted to the news so far but his assistant Paul Ndanga says he regrets Mbami's decision but also said it was unpatriotic.
"We were hoping that these problems would be sorted out in Leipzig before our friendly match against Germany on 17 November," Ndanga added.
Mbami, who was named in the squad to play Germany, has been replaced by Marcus Mokake from French side Sedan.
Mbami's announcement is the latest in a string of problems for Schaefer; most recently he was forced to change his squad to face Germany by the ministry of sport while fans and the media have been calling for his resignation.
MMIX
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