{"id":53471,"date":"2023-12-08T19:43:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T19:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws"},"modified":"2023-12-08T20:00:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T20:00:51","slug":"zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws","title":{"rendered":"ZAMBIA\u2019S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER OPPONENT ERITREA WITHDRAWS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Zambia\u2019s World Cup qualifier opponent Eritrea has officially withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup qualifier, less than two weeks before the start of the qualifiers.<\/p>\n

The rumor that Eritrea would not participate in the qualifiers had been around for some time, and the Eritrea Football Federation has now made the official announcement.<\/p>\n

Eritrea was initially scheduled to face Morocco and Congo Brazzaville in the opening group games of the qualifier. However, no concrete reason has been given for their withdrawal, but it may be connected with the defection of some players.<\/p>\n

The last time Eritrea played a competitive game was in September 2019, when they lost 2-0 to Namibia in the qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. Eritrea\u2019s withdrawal leaves Group E with just five teams: Zambia, Morocco, Congo Brazzaville, Niger, and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Zambia\u2019s World Cup qualifier opponent Eritrea has officially withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup qualifier, less than two weeks before the start of the qualifiers. The rumor that Eritrea would not participate in the qualifiers had been around for some time, and the Eritrea Football Federation has now made the official announcement. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":53469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,248],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-53471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nZAMBIA\u2019S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER OPPONENT ERITREA WITHDRAWS - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s World Cup qualifier opponent Eritrea has officially withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup qualifier, less than two ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ZAMBIA\u2019S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER OPPONENT ERITREA WITHDRAWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zambia\u2019s World Cup qualifier opponent Eritrea has officially withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup qualifier, less than two ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-08T19:43:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-08T20:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/12\/sm_1702052920.68578.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ZAMBIA\u2019S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER OPPONENT ERITREA WITHDRAWS\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-08T19:43:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-08T20:00:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\"},\"wordCount\":153,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/12\/sm_1702052920.68578.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambias-world-cup-qualifier-opponent-eritrea-withdraws\",\"name\":\"ZAMBIA\u2019S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER OPPONENT ERITREA WITHDRAWS - 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