Lauren snubs Cameroon`s World Cup selection yet again (02.06.2005)
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Arsenal defender Lauren has again snubbed Cameroon by failing to arrive for their World Cup training camp in Paris, despite officials saying last month he had agreed to return to international football.
Cameroon Football Federation officials conceded on Wednesday Lauren would not play for them in Saturday`s World Cup African zone Group Three qualifier against Benin in Cotonou after his non-arrival at the squad base in Moissy-Cramayel.
Lauren has refused call-ups to the Cameroon side since the 2002 World Cup finals, where he won the last of his 24 caps, citing incidents of poor management.
Last year, former Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer attempted several times to lure the defender back while new coach Artur Jorge included him in the side for the Benin qualifier in the belief that he had agreed to return.
Former Sunderland
striker Patrick Mboma, Lauren`s team mate at the last two World Cups, was deputised to persuade him to return and his positive response led to the Cameroon call-up, officials said. Mboma is now part of Jorge`s support staff.
Lauren was accidentally born in Cameroon as his parents, exiles from nearby Equatorial Guinea, were in transit there to Spain, where the defender spent most of his youth.
He made his international debut for Cameroon shortly before the 1998 World Cup finals while still at Real Mallorca.
Cameroon, who will be playing their third match under Portuguese coach Jorge, are in danger of missing out on the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990 when they reached the quarter-finals in Italy.
Cameroon trail leaders Ivory Coast by four points with four matches each remaining. Only the group winners qualify for the 2006 finals in Germany.
