Soccer at the Beijing Olympics is threatening to become a showcase for Barcelona’s biggest names, albeit some of whom seem to be heading for the Nou Camp exit, writes Jack Bell. First Lionel Messi was called up by Argentina, then Ronaldinho was picked by Brazil, and now Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has said he thinks he’ll be joining the action at next month’s games too.
“I think I am going to be called, but because I’m here, I don’t have all the information,” Eto’o, 27, said through a translator at the weekend while in in New York on his way to the USA Cup youth soccer tournament in Minnesota. Eto’o said he had heard rumors that Cameroon’s Olympic team wanted him.
“Whether I want to or can go or not is not yet certain,” he said. “It is always an honor to defend the jersey of your country in a tournament like the Olympics. It’s not something for every day. And you know I have won there, against Ronaldinho [at Sydney in 2000]. But I have to wait until I go back for training to see if the team will allow me, will support me.” New Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has said that neither Eto’o nor Ronaldinho figure in his plans for the coming season, but Eto’o told Bell: “I’m on vacation, I don’t think about those things now. The new trainer has the right to make the team he wants, you have to respect that, and that’s it.”