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Disappearance of Modeste M'Bami: three former Indomitable Lions remember
Modeste Mbami during the match against Colombia at the 2003 Confederation Cup. Corbis/VCG via Getty Images - Eddy Lemaistre
Text by: Martin Guez Follow
5 mins
African football, and particularly Cameroonian football, has been in mourning since Saturday, January 7.
At just 40, former midfielder Modeste M'Bami died of a heart attack at his home in Le Havre in northwestern France.
Ex-player of Sedan, Paris and Marseille, the smiling torchbearer was also an essential player of the 2000s in the Cameroonian selection.
Three players, from three generations with whom he rubbed shoulders, remember his communicative joie de vivre.
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“
Always happy!
Always smiling !
".
“
As soon as you saw him, you inevitably had a smile on your face, and you started laughing!
“recall his former partners.
If we say of the former glories of the round ball that they were the game, like Johann Cruyff or Pelé, Modeste M'Bami was joy.
From the streets of Douala, where he hit his first balls, to Le Havre, via Sedan, Paris and Marseille, the midfielder leaves the memory of an excellent footballer, with sure technique and a devastating smile.
A good mood and a welcome closeness for young players who were starting out in the selection, like Benjamin Moukandjo.
The ex-captain of the Indomitable Lions, African champion in 2017, had his first selections alongside Modeste M'Bami, whom he is not about to forget:
“
Me, I had just arrived when I had the chance to meet him,”
recalls the former striker
.
“We had the opportunity to do some internships, some selections, and to spend some time together.
He was one of those players who got along with everyone, regardless of generation.
He brought us this joie de vivre, he didn't take the lead.
I also had the chance to play against him.
We talked, we laughed!
It's really a shock, because he was just 40 years old, and had his life ahead of him.
Especially since he endeavored to pass on his knowledge to young people.
He was a big brother for us, who advised us very well.
We are losing an icon of our football.
»
🙏 Modeste Mbami 🙏
✨ #Ligue1Legends 🇨🇲 pic.twitter.com/nMGvQ8HnBc
— Ligue 1 Uber Eats (@Ligue1UberEats) January 9, 2023
Relayer and passer on the field as in the locker room, Modeste M'Bami was also a model for Stéphane Mbia.
If the two men played in the same position and in the same club, Olympique de Marseille (where they rubbed shoulders with each other for a few months), Mbia and M'Bami above all experienced a great common adventure in the jersey of Cameroon.
It was in 2008 in Ghana, where the Lions reached the final, losing at the time to Egypt.
“
Modest, he facilitated my integration into the selection of Cameroon.
I was quite young.
It was an example.
For me, he represented a benchmark, in relation to my position and my style of play
, ”sighs the 36-year-old player, still looking for one last challenge on the pitch.
“
Modest, it was a small model.
He was very close to the young people in selection.
Me, he really put me at ease.
And I was not the only one, it was also for Landry Nguemo or Alexandre Song.
He was really loved by everyone in the selection.
I spoke to him again recently on the phone, we were talking about everything and nothing… He was doing really well at that time.
It's really hard
”.
🎥 This winning goal by Modeste Mbami in extra time against Brazil (2-1) in the quarter-finals of the 2022 Olympic Games. We don't forget.
Thank you for everything CHAMPION.
#RIP 🤲🙏🌹🇨🇲#UnLionNeMeurtJamaisIlDort pic.twitter.com/Dm9ZIqiF59
—AllezLesLions (@AllezLesLions) January 7, 2023
If he was a mentor in the locker room of the Indomitable Lions, it is because Modeste M'Bami immediately felt at ease with Cameroon.
The native of Yaoundé was not even 18 when he flew to Sydney in Australia, where he competed in the Olympic Games in 2000. He then took part in the crazy adventure of the young players of Jean-Paul Akono, and won the medal. Olympic gold in the final against Xavi's Spain.
Modeste M'Bami is then crowned alongside Samuel Eto'o, Patrick Mboma and Geremi Njitap.
The latter has an unforgettable memory: M'Bami's winning goal in the quarter-finals, against Brazil's Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.
“
It will forever be etched in my memory and in that of Cameroonians
,” recalls the former Chelsea and Real Madrid player, twice winner of the CAN and the Champions League.
“
The goal he scored at the time was the one that allowed us to be Olympic champions.
We were 9 against 11, because I had taken a red card
(just like Aaron Nguimbat, editor's note)
.
When he scored that goal, it was madness.
He was not a good player, he was a very good player.
He was thinking: I loved playing with him, me who played on the side, because I knew that when M'Bami recovered the ball, I was going to be served at the right tempo.
He was the kind of player I really liked.
In addition he was a mood maker.
In Cameroon, we usually sing before games to relieve stress.
There were a few designated people.
And when M'Bami took over, everyone would die of laughter!
I met him recently at the Paris airport, he too was traveling.
As soon as I saw him I started to smile, and he laughed out loud.
It did us a lot of good.
Modeste M'Bami leaves behind her smile and joie de vivre.
►
To read also:
Football: former Cameroonian international Modeste M'Bami is dead
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