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After testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday like the other Comoros goalkeeper, Ali Ahamada finally tested negative on Monday. However, it is not certain to play the capital meeting once morest Cameroon due to a protocol put in place by CAF.
Will the Comoros have a professional goalkeeper for their round of 16 once morest Cameroon? The soap opera lasts. Ali Ahamada has tested negative for Covid but is not sure of being able to play, AFP learned on Monday January 24 from the president of the Comorian Federation.
Ahamada “is negative,” Said Ali Said Athouman told AFP. “He has done additional tests, everything is OK, but for the moment CAF does not want to play him”.
A new protocol in question
The new Covid protocol of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), modified during competition, provides “that a player must wait five days of confinement before doing the PCR test 48 hours before his match”, specifies a carrier. word of CAF.
“Tested positive on January 22, the Comorian player must wait five days before taking the post-Covid-19 assessment and returning to the match following approval by the medical commission,” it added. This leaves little hope for Ahamada to play.
But Tunisia obtained a waiver from CAF for Wahbi Khazri, who entered the game on Sunday in the victory once morest Nigeria (1-0) less than five days following testing positive for Covid-19.
The “Coelacanthes” made the same request for derogation on Monday and are awaiting a response from CAF, explains the Comorian delegation.
The Comoros, qualified for the first time in their history for the African Cup, do not have a goalkeeper available for the round of 16 once morest Cameroon. Ahamada and Moyadh Ousseini tested positive for Covid-19 two days before the match and Salim Ben Boina, starter once morest Morocco and Ghana, suffered a shoulder injury and is unavailable.
On Sunday, Comoros goalkeeping coach Jean-Daniel Padovani had “not yet determined” which outfield player would play in goal if he were deprived of a professional goalkeeper. “And even if it was, I wouldn’t say it,” he said.
Coach Amir Abdou, who took charge of the team in 2014, will also miss this game following testing positive once more on Monday morning, he said.
Midfielder Yassine Bourhane, positive on Saturday, also tested negative on Monday and is also awaiting the waiver, said a team spokeswoman.
With AFP