The long relationship between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the Gabon national team continues to blow hot and cold in the hearts of Panthers supporters since the beginning of ups and downs, eclipses and sulks, false starts and real returns. And from this point of view, the start of the mandate of coach Thierry Mouyouma is no exception.
After taking over from French Patrice Neveu, in October 2023, new coach Thierry Mouyouma includes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in his first list, considering a friendly against Guinea, in Faro (Portugal). Returning to the national team the spring before after the intervention of the then head of state, Ali Bongo, “PEA” then came out of a first retirement, announced after a CAN 2021 that was destroyed, among other things, by Covid. But the former winner of the Marc-Vivien Foé award for best African player in Ligue 1 will not be attending the gathering. Aubameyang claims an injury and remains in Marseille instead of coming to get it listed, as usual. Eager to impose their authority from the start, the new coach and his staff take this liberty taken from a player who is supposed to set a very bad example.
Discipline, Thierry Mouyouma’s credo
In November 2023, Thierry Mouyouma will manage without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And it is without the 34-year-old striker that the Panthers achieved full success during the first two days of World Cup qualification 2026, against Kenya (2-1) and Burundi (2-1 again). Before these two meetings, the new Panthers boss cracked down on two leaders, midfielder Didier Ndong and striker Aaron Boupendza, dismissed for not turning up for the meeting on time. Thierry Mouyouma insists on the values of discipline, and does not escape questions about Aubameyang’s absence.
If he says he’s not going to make it a personal issue (“All my picks are sporting. I’m not a seller in a market, but a picker,” he assures), the new pick finds another opportunity to pitch in his credo. Not without becoming an ethnologist. “Gabon is a Bantu country. And in a Bantu country there is a custom: when you are called, you must introduce yourself. However, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did not deign to do so during training in Lisbon, said Thierry Mouyouma in November, on the occasion of the kick-off for the World Cup qualification 2026. The resident on the bench passes again from the offensive. star, meanwhile returned to his best form in the Olympic colours.
A rant and a reunion
As the announcement of the squad for the March friendlies against Senegal and Congo approaches, social networks are buzzing with rumors of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s return. This is not the case: on March 8, the aforementioned list fell and the new record holder for goals scored in the Europa League still does not appear there. If the coach claims to have received no response from the player when he tried to contact him, the person’s entourage delivers a completely different version of things, March 21 in the columns of La Provence. “The reality is that they never spoke to each other, that the coach from the start never got in touch with him,” assures a person close to the player, quoted by the regional daily. The problem is obviously not sporting. The treatment that Mr. Mouyouma reserved for Pierre-Emerick is undignified. It is complicated to see them working together in the future. »
After the March 27 meeting between the two men, this pessimistic prediction has never seemed closer to being contradicted. Handled by Senegal (3-0) and hung by Congo (1-1) this month, Gabon will play two qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in June. They have made a good start in their group with two wins, the Panthers will travel to their Ivorian co-leaders before hosting The Gambia. A double meeting that could well mark Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s return to the national team.
Related Posts
follow the torch relay in Corsica Prima at 12.25.
32 “protest” actions prevented according to Darmanin
