“It’s like being in a horror movie, you don’t think about football,” said the coach from Gambia Saturday September 9 at RFI. However, there was indeed a match on Sunday evening in Marrakech, two days after the earthquake felt in a good part of the country and which left at least 2,122 dead, a provisional toll. It must be believed that for CAF, the African Football Federation, the disaster did not change much. The Grand Stade de Marrakech saw Gambia qualify for the final phase of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) with their 2-2 draw against Congo.
“For me, the only correct decision [est de reporter la rencontre]. We are in Marrakech, there are more than 1,000 people dead and we are talking about football, about playing a match that we could play in October. We can qualify in October, it’s the same thing for Congo-Brazzaville, fulminated the day before the meeting Tom Saintfiet, to RFI. For me, it’s not normal to play this match out of respect for the dead, for all the families, the people who work in the police, the hospitals… Focusing on a football game is not good timing. The decision not to play the match is the best. But we are not in control. All of this is up to CAF to decide. We have to play on Sunday and we will do everything to qualify. But it’s very difficult.”
traumatized
Paul Put, Congo’s coach, also said his players were traumatized by the events and did not want to participate in the match. The Gambian team as well as the Congo team were staying in their hotel in Marrakech when the earthquake struck late Friday evening. Players from both teams fled their hotels and slept in the open.
This Group G meeting was relocated to Marrakech because Gambia does not have a stadium that meets international standards. The match was played in front of just a few dozen supporters of both teams, waving flags of their countries. The final phase of the CAN will be played in Ivory Coast from January 13 to February 11, 2024.