Only three matches will be played on Friday. Sudan will host South Africa, in Group A, in their first ever international encounter. The match will kickoff at 20.00 hours, according to the time listed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com
In Group E, Guinea will host Togo at the same time. Guinea is playing their home games at the Moroccan city of Casablanca, because of the out - break of the deadly virus - Ebola, which has claimed almost 2,000 lives in six affected West African nations.
The African football governing body CAF, ordered two of the three most infected countries - Guinea and Sierra Leone to play their home games in neutral nations, because of the virus.
 |
| Ghanaian Fans |
The other match that will also be played today, at the same time is the game between Senegal and Egypt. Senegal is hosting their first full international match, after serving a one year ban for their fans violence, during the 2012 World Cup qualification match against Ivory Coast.
Senegalese fans disrupted the match, which was played at the national stadium, (Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium), when their team was on the verge of losing the match 2 - 0.
On Saturday the 6th, in Group A, Nigeria which is the defending champions will host Congo Brazzaville in Calabar at 17.00 hours, while Mali will host Malawi in Group B at 19.00 hours.
In Group D, Ivory Coast will host Sierra Leone, at 17.00 hours, after the government had initially said that, they will not allow the Sierra Leonean team into their country, because of the fear of the Ebola virus.
Ivory Coast was ready to forfeit the match, if they could not relocate it to a neutral venue. Then CAF made a public statement, through their spokesman, and warned that any country which forfeit a match, will be disqualified from the competition. So the government made a U-turn.
Sierra Leone will be using their foreign based players for the match, and their football federation officials, will be screened of the virus by the health ministry and World Health Organisation (WHO), before they can travel to Abidjan for the match.
Sierra Leone have also found a venue for their home games. They will host their games at the Lubumbashi Stadium of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), until when CAF reviews the Ebola situation, most likely later this month.
In Group C, at 16.00 hours, Burkina Faso will be hosting Lesotho, while at the same time Ghana hosts Uganda.
Zambia will be hosting Mozambique in Group F at 15.00 hours, while in Group G, Tunisai will be hosting Botswana at 20.15 hours. All the other countries participating in the competition, will also play their first games tomorrow.
Read also: Melvinsports.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment