Cape Town (Reuters)
The Cameroon Football Association announced today, Friday, that four players from the Cameroon national team were infected with Covid-19, nine days before the opening match of the tournament between the host country and Burkina Faso.
Other teams preparing for the finals scheduled to start on the ninth of January also revealed cases of Covid-19, after the Cape Verdean team announced that seven other players had been infected with the virus, in addition to a player in the Moroccan national team.
This comes in addition to the cases announced by Algeria and Ivory Coast on Thursday. The Ivory Coast national team may also be deprived of the efforts of main goalkeeper Sylvain Gboho due to the suspension.
The International Federation “FIFA” banned Gboho, who plays in Ethiopia, after failing a test to detect a performance-enhancing substance.
The decision was announced by the Ethiopian Football Association, but the Ivory Coast Football Association has not confirmed it.
On the other hand, Eric Maxime Choupo-Moting of Cameroon was injured during training and is waiting to see if he can play.
The Cameroon Football Association said the Bayern Munich player, expected to lead the host country’s attack line, felt “severe pain in his right knee” and had an x-ray, and was awaiting the result, amid fears that the 32-year-old striker would be absent from the tournament.
Cameroon also announced that prominent defender Michel Ngadou-Ngadgui, midfielder Pierre Conde Malong, winger Christian Bassogog and reserve goalkeeper Jan Evala have all tested positive for the virus.
Cape Verde had already canceled an international friendly match against Morocco, before announcing new cases of the virus in its internal camp on Friday.
The Cape Verdean national team said in a statement that the injured players are subject to self-isolation, but they do not complain of any symptoms, and that only 15 players participated in training today, Friday.
The Moroccan defender Badr Banoun, who was included by the coach in the squad at the last moments, also decided to postpone his plans to join the Moroccan national team in its camp in the Emirates, after he was infected with Corona.
And on Thursday, the Ivory Coast national team said that players coming from Europe to its camp in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had contracted the virus and the local authorities had placed them in quarantine.
And the Algerian national team said earlier this week that its players Youssef Belaili, Mohamed Amine Togay and Hussein Ben Ayada had contracted Covid-19 at a training camp in Qatar.
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