CAN 2021 qualifiers: many European clubs block their internationals
The Ivorians during a friendly match in Belgium, in October 2020. JOHN THYS / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
A few days before the international break (March 22 to 31), many European clubs have announced that they will not let their African players go to play the last two days of the CAN qualifiers.
A FIFA circular authorizes them to do so due to the health crisis.
This situation worries and annoys the coaches.
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At the end of the month, we will know all the qualifiers for the
2021 African Cup of Nations
, postponed to 2022. For many selections, the last two days of the qualifiers scheduled for March 22 to 31 will be decisive.
But to get their ticket to Cameroon, some teams will have to do without some important players.
Blame it on a FIFA circular which authorizes clubs to retain their internationals if they have to observe a period of isolation of more than five days upon their return.
This is particularly the case in France where all people returning from a country outside the European Union must isolate themselves for seven days.
This leads many Ligue 1 clubs to "block" their internationals so that they can be operational for the 31st day on April 3 and 4 and the round of 16 of the Coupe de France on April 6.
The Angers SCO has already announced it to Malian Lassana Coulibaly, Senegalese Sada Thioub, Ivorians Abdoulaye Bamba and Ismaël Traoré, according to the regional daily
Ouest-France
.
At FC Metz, a dozen internationals have to give up on these last two qualifying matches.
Among them, Malian defenders Mamadou Fofana, Boubakar Kouyaté and Ivorian midfielders Victorien Angban and Habib Maïga.
“
I have ten selectable players including eight holders.
I am not masochistic
!
I cannot deprive myself of it for the two matches in Monaco (in L1 and in the Coupe de France)
”, explained Metz coach Frédéric Antonetti to
L'Équipe
newspaper on
Friday 12 March.
Côte d'Ivoire, one of the most affected selections
Same story in Lyon where coach Rudi Garcia finds "
logical that we think of protecting the interests of OL
".
And once again, it is the “Elephants” who will suffer the most with the absences of Maxwell Cornet and Sinaly Diomendé.
Unlike other selections also concerned such as Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Cameroon (host country), Côte d'Ivoire has not yet its ticket for the CAN.
"
It is not fair to leave a national team with the 4th, 5th and 6th choice
", regrets the coach Patrice Beaumelle, who confirms to RFI that "
100% of its players want to come
".
Lyon striker Maxwell Cornet during the L1 match against Toulouse on January 26, 2020 at Groupama Stadium in Lyon AFP / Archives
This poses a problem of equity, according to the French technician: “
I have two important matches and I want to be able to count on my vital forces.
Like other nations, we have a lot of players who play abroad.
Others have almost all of their workforce playing in championships in Africa such as Niger and Ethiopia
(the next two opponents of Côte d'Ivoire which will have to win one of the two matches to qualify) ”.
Patrice Beaumelle could therefore be forced to select local players who have been almost inactive for a year because of the end of the Ivorian championship.
"
We had to take precautions with my staff by making a preselection of almost 100 players
" he admits, "
powerless
" in the face of a circular which "
penalizes him a lot
".
English clubs also block
He is not the only one.
“
Benin coach Michel Dussuyer is in the same situation as me, like many others
”.
This is also the case for Didier Six, at the head of Guinea and who will have to do without his captain for one of the two matches.
“
We received a letter from Liverpool.
As Namibia is in the coronavirus red zone, Liverpool does not want Naby Keita to go there.
It's delicate.
In the current context, you have to manage it piecemeal
, ”he explained at a press conference.
The Guinean Naby Keita will be missed at the “National Syli”.
REUTERS / Phil Noble
The Eswatini that Sadio Mané has to face with Senegal is also classified as a red zone by the British authorities.
The Reds striker should therefore not go there to play a game without a stake for "Lions" already qualified.
The same goes for Fulham's Cameroonian midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, whose selection must go to Cape Verde.
No postponement in sight
To remedy this problem, some evoke the hypothesis of a postponement, as is the case for the matches of the South American selections, in the middle of the qualifying phase for the 2022 World Cup. But it is today. It was too late to announce it, a week from the deadline.
Above all, the international calendar is more overloaded in the Africa zone where we must finish the qualifiers of the CAN and those of the World Cup.
The breeders will therefore have to make do with it.
Or rather without.
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