The pupil of Lokomotiv dreamed of playing for the Russian national team, but Cherchesov did not even know about him.
With the absence of the Russian team among the participants of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, our country has long come to terms. Some Russian fans have completely lost interest in the tournament, while others have found another team to support them. However, another reason to cheer appeared unexpectedly – a Russian is going to the World Cup!
Gael Ondua, a trainee of Lokomotiv with Russian citizenship, was called up to the Cameroon national team!
Gael really wanted to play for the Russian national team …
Lived in Russia since childhood
Born in Cameroon, Ondua moved to Russia with his family at the age of 12, as his father worked at the Cameroonian embassy in Moscow. The father gave Gael to football – to the academy of the Moscow Lokomotiv, as well as to the club’s boarding school, so that he mastered the Russian language. The brothers Aleksey and Anton Miranchuk lived in the same room with Ondua, and their mother Elena helped Gael a lot with his homework.
In 2012, Gael with Loko won the RFU Cup among youth teams born in 1995, while also becoming the top scorer of the tournament. The talent of the African was noticed, they began to involve him in training with the base even under Leonid Kuchuk. Ondua played in several friendly matches, but did not appear on the field in official games.
Gael Ondua / Photo: © Personal archive of Gael Ondua
Two years later, Gael moved to CSKA Moscow and played for the youth team for several months, and then made his debut for the main army team, replacing Alexander Golovin in the 88th minute in the Russian Cup against Khimik from Dzerzhinsk (1: 2). These few minutes remained for Ondua the only ones at the base of the Red-Blues.
In the summer of 2016, Gael moved to the Danish Vejle, and six months later, to the Lugansk Zorya. And already in the summer of 2018 he returned to Russia – to Anji Makhachkala, for which he played 27 matches. Then he went back to Europe. From 2019 to 2021, he played for the Swiss Servette, and then moved to the German Hannover, for which he plays to this day.
Was close to the Russian team
Since 2018, Ondua began to receive calls to the Cameroon national team, but he did not play in official matches. And in the summer of 2020, Gael even stated that he wanted to play for the Russian national team, and added that this was his childhood dream. Stanislav Cherchesov, who then headed our national team, did not add optimism to the African:
– Strange situation. On the one hand, it’s nice that football players, including African ones, want to play for the Russian national team. On the other hand, I have nothing to comment on this issue. Maybe he is a good football player, but I don’t know him and have never talked to him, Cherchesov said in an interview with the Championship.
Gael did not wait for an invitation to the Russian team, although he even refused to participate in the African Cup so as not to be played for Cameroon. But already in March 2022, he nevertheless made his debut for the Lions. At the moment, Ondua has 4 matches for the African team.
Perhaps, after the removal of the Russian national team from international matches, Gael even thanked fate for not being included in our national team. Indeed, on November 9, the 27-year-old midfielder received a call to the Cameroon national team to participate in the 2022 World Cup.
Ondua could not have such a chance even without the removal of the Russian team. In Group E, Gael will play with Serbia, Switzerland and one of the favorites of the tournament – Brazil! The guy who wanted to play for Russia so badly can only be wished good luck!
