African Nations Cup: Tunisian Youssef Msakni infected with the Corona virus
The Tunisian Football Association announced on Monday that midfielder Youssef Msakni had contracted the Corona virus, six days before the start of the African Nations Cup in Cameroon.
The Federation said in a statement, "Covid tests conducted on the player Youssef Al-Maskani in Qatar proved that the result of the analysis issued on January 2, 2022, is positive, noting that Al-Masakni participated on December 30, 2021 in an official interview with his team within the Qatari championship."
In the statement published on its official Facebook page, the federation indicated that the current African Nations Cup laws and regulations “do not allow for change at present, given that the registration process for players was closed on December 30, 2021”, in addition to the fact that the current regulations and laws do not include anything that says The possibility of changing a player after the mentioned date, even if he was infected with the virus, according to what was stated in the statement.
The coach of the "Carthage Eagles" Munther Al-Kabeer had chosen a squad of 28 players to participate in the African Nations Cup scheduled in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6, but midfielder Ferjani Sassi was absent due to infection with the Corona virus.
To Sassi, the Qatari player of Al-Duhail, Al-Kabeer excluded goalkeeper Moez Hassan for technical reasons, Ayman Salernitana, the Italian, Wajdi Kashraida, due to his infection with Corona, and midfielders Saad Bakir and Fakhr El-Din bin Youssef.
Tunisia won the continental championship title only once in its history when it hosted it in 2004 on its soil, while it finished the last edition in 2019 in Egypt in fourth place.
Youssef Msakni and his companions were in a relatively easy group that included Mauritania, Gambia and Mali.
Tunisia was runner-up in the last Arab Cup, after losing to Algeria 0-2 after the extension.
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