Tragedies, numbers with plaster, coups and even a "magic broom": the scandals of the African Cup

• Tragedy An avalanche before Cameroon-Comoros leaves at least eight dead

"From Cairo to Cape Town, some of the best players in the world come from Africa. Holding the

is a show of pride, African brotherhood and, above all, love for the game."

's words

as the new president of the Cameroon Federation are those of an organizer who wants a brilliant tournament in which he did not expect to deal in the midst of a pandemic with refereeing chaos, the precariousness of some teams and even with a tragedy that has left eight dead and fifty wounded.

The African Cup was to be played last June, before the European Championship, but the epidemiological situation of the entire continent discouraged it.

It was postponed to January despite the fact that more than a hundred players from the major European leagues had to leave their competitions halfway.

Among them

or

,

,

,

or

.

All of them will play this weekend the quarterfinals, which have brought the

crossings .

However, football has been surrounded by a certain chaos.

The most tragic consequence was the death of eight fans in an avalanche in the stands during the Islas Comoros-Cameroun.

The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF),

, acknowledged that "there were some shortcomings, weaknesses and failures that should have been avoided".

This tragedy occurred despite the fact that the public is barely responding in this competition.

The Government reduced the working day to 2:00 p.m. to favor attendance, but access to the stadiums is only allowed to people with the complete vaccination schedule in a country where only 2% of the population meets this requirement.

A goalkeeper side

Another picturesque situation occurred in that same round of 16 match.

Comoros Islands, one of the surprises of the competition because he has only been in FIFA for 17 years, had to field his right-back,

, as goalkeeper in the most important duel in its history.

The reason is that 48 hours before the two goalkeepers tested positive for Covid and the third had been injured.

Despite the fact that the morning of the game one of the goalkeepers already tested negative, the CAF did not let him play due to a rule imposed a few hours before that forced him to quarantine.

Despite the "PCR fraud" denounced by Comoros, he had to improvise a goalkeeper and even a shirt: Alhadhur played with number 3 marked on his back with tape.

He humorously confessed after the game that he had remembered

, that goalkeeper from the legendary children's cartoon series 'Champions' and he even received congratulations from his rival, the Ajax goalkeeper

.

The other surprise of the competition, which will also be the rival of the host team, is Gambia.

The scorpions were until this tournament among the 12 worst African teams for FIFA and it is understood by the precariousness of means with which they work.

His coach since 2018, the Belgian

, has stayed despite the fact that in the midst of the pandemic his players sleep six per room and that they can only travel two hours before matches.

In this situation, his classification is a feat.

They will face Cameroon, with their captain

gave him

as a symbol of the victory of the wise men of a clan from the central region of the country.

covid

Burkina Faso is also in the quarterfinals, led by Aston Villa striker

, who will face Tunisia after leaving Gabon on penalties on the same day that the country's army staged a coup against the president.

Gabon has been penalized that its two best players,

, have not been able to play a single match.

The three caught the Covid at a party in Dubai prior to the concentration and the subsequent medical examinations detected heart injuries that led the CAF to not allow their participation.

The Egyptian Salah, against the Ivorian Konan, during the African Cup.AFP

In a great continental competition you cannot miss the look at the refereeing establishment.

The news seemed that it was going to be the participation for the first time of a woman, the Rwandan

, in an arbitration quartet, something that happened in the Zimbabwe-Guinea of ​​the group stage, but the protagonism of her was stolen.

In Tunisia-Mali in the group stage, the Zambian referee,

, whistled the end of the match twice before regular time was up.

First, in '85 and then, in '89. The reason he gave for making those two mistakes was a heat stroke that took him to the hospital, something that did not console the Tunisians and that was the first scandal of an African Cup Very noisy.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• sports

Copa del ReyElche - Madrid, Real Sociedad - Atlético, Betis - Sevilla and Athletic - Barça in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey

LaLigaEl Sevilla has a dream

LaLigaBarça announces the transfer of Coutinho to Aston Villa

See links of interest

• Last News

• Translator

• What

• Work calendar 2022

• Home THE WORLD today

• Master investigative journalism

• Apothecary Garcia

• Barca - Asvel Villeurbanne

• Stefanos Tsitsipas - Daniil Medvedev live