Steve Mounié, January 31, 2021 in the jersey of Brest. – Fred TANNEAU / AFP
Another beautiful episode to add to the tasty legend of African ambushes during international truces. Welcome to Sierra Leone, where the home side must win by two goals in the final qualifying game to compete in the African Cup of Nations. The adversary? The Benin team, duly tested after its defeat in Nigeria last Sunday, which takes the plane the same evening with a delegation of 77 people all negative for Covid-19 for Freetown.
The best positive Beninese players just before the match
Nothing to report until it’s time to take the bus to the stadium the next day, when the local authorities show up with five names in felt-tip pen on a white sheet, supposedly positive for Covid. The five best Beninese players on paper, gets upset the Brest striker Steve Mounié, who recounts the events in the Telegram.
“Among the 80 [personnes] of the delegation, as if by chance, the five positive players are holders for the match “he explains, affirming that the tests in Sierra Leone had been carried out by a laboratory” apparently not certified “and especially unveiled a few minutes before the warm-up when they must be communicated several hours before the meeting.
“Among the five players, three have already had Covid-19, including two from Clermont who contracted it a month ago. It was therefore impossible that they would have the virus again in such a short period of time since they have the antibodies. Me, I already had Covid-19 a year ago, and the same, I still have the antibodies when I take blood tests. That’s when we realized it was a masquerade, an outright lie ”.
We did our own tests 72 hours before the match as planned. Time to travel, and to be tested again in SL, 5 positive results. Captain, and L1 and L2 players 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Ha, and we’re supposed to play on this “field” pic.twitter.com/v8jf0vH7U1– Manu Imorou (@Manuimorou) March 30, 2021
“A pure and hard lie”
The former Hérault striker implies that Sierra Leone tried to distort the result by preventing the best Beninese elements from playing the match, while a defeat of two goals would have condemned Benin in favor of his opponent. In addition, the Siaka Steven Stadium, where the meeting was to take place, was suspended due to its obsolescence, but the sanction was exceptionally lifted by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on March 11, based on the new wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and current travel restrictions, time to complete qualifications for CAN-2022.
Full of courage, CAF decided to postpone the match to next June, when the Sierra Leonean federation informed “the public and the football family that the Benin team had refused to enter the field for this match. crucial after five players have tested positive for Covid-19 ”. Buffoonery to the end.