ANDRE ONANA has been dropped by Cameroon ahead of their crunch African Cup of Nations clash against Gambia.

The Manchester United goalkeeper, 27, was a late arrival in the Cameroon squad.

Andre Onana has been benched by Cameroon for their crunch Afcon game with Gambia

Andre Onana encouraging his Cameroon team-mates

After missing his nation’s first game – a 1-1 draw with Guinea – Onana then starred in their second group stage game against Senegal.

However, the reigning Afcon champions showed their clinical edge by scoring with all three of their shots on target.

With that result the Indomitable Lions are now staring down elimination in the group stage.

And manager Rigobert Song has taken drastic action by dropping Onana for French third tier goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa to try and ensure Cameroon’s progression into the knockout stages.

Ondoa played for Nimes Olympique who are currently 15th in the French National League.

The 28-year-old is also Onana’s cousin.

Coach Song previously axed Onana from their Qatar World Cup squad after a disagreement over how the team should play.

According to many sources, Onana was very angry because he was left out of the starting lineup against Gambia. Even before the match, he had an argument with the President of the Cameroon Football Federation, Samuel Eto’o. A source close to the Cameroon team told Sports News Africa:

“It was Song who decided to change the goalkeeper and bring Ondoa back to the No. 1 position after meeting with the players on the team. Only this morning did Onana realize that she was not the main starter. He had a verbal argument with Eto’o. Onana lost her temper herself before calming down and remaining in the group to accept her fate.”

Onana was not feeling sorry for himself, though. Throughout the game, he could be seen encouraging his team-mates as they chased the result they needed to stay in the tournament.

Going into the match Cameroon knew that a draw will not be enough to put them through automatically.

The nations Afcon hopes looked bleak going into the final minutes before they mustered a late comeback to win the match 3-2, with Christopher Wooh heading home the winner in injury time.

And a 2-0 win for Senegal in their game against Guinea put Cameroon through automatically over Guinea on goals scored.

If Cameroon were eliminated it would have meant Onana would incredibly exit the tournament without making a single save.