Africa-Press – Ghana. Burkina Faso have threatened to boycott Sunday’s opening AFCON game against hosts Cameroon unless Covid-19 tests are redone in the presence of their medical team by independent specialists.
Around five players and their coach Kamou Malo returned positive results on Saturday, just days before the side’s opener against hosts Cameroon on Sunday, and the Burkinabè Football Federation stated in a protest letter to CAF that they believe there was some manipulation in the previous night tests, which showed nine members had the virus.
The epidemic has remained one of the tournament’s significant obstacles, with at least seven of the tournament’s 24 participating teams already afflicted, including Senegal, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Cape Verde, Tunisia, and The Gambia.
CAF approved participating teams to expand their player count from 23 to 28 in order to ensure that substitutes were available in the event of Covid-19 positive instances.
Firmin Sanou, the Stallions’ assistant coach, already contended during the pre-match press conference that his players who had been confirmed positive for the virus were actually negative.
“We cannot be told at the eve of the game that they (players) are positive. This is unacceptable,” Sanou said, adding that: “Officials need to think and bring a transparent team from CAF to come and conduct the tests so that we will be sure the players will not participate in the match.”
Skipper Bertrand Traore added: “It’s a scandal, we cannot be deprived of first-team players 24 hours before the match.”
The Burkinabè delegation has requested a second opinion, claiming that the tests were not PCR testing, which must be conducted 48 hours before the match.
Traore said: “The authorities must review the organization. We cannot accept this decision. We can redo tests of our positive players.”
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