The army prevents the Angolan team from leaving Gabon airport

The Angolan football team, led by Portuguese Pedro Gonçalves, was detained at El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba International Airport, in Franceville, Gabon, for more than two hours, denouncing the Angolan Football Federation.

According to the Vice-President of the Angolan Football Federation, Jose Carlos Miguel, the Gabonese authorities are asking the Angolan delegation to take a test for covid-19 RT/PCR, at a time when there is no health team for this. .

“We spent more than two hours at the airport, in a room without air conditioning and no chairs to sit on. We can’t leave because they say there is a health team coming, but it never comes. They put soldiers around the airport so we don’t move. That’s right. That’s ridiculous” .

The head of the Judicial Council of the Angolan Football Federation, Sergio Raimundo, who was also present at the stadium, lamented this fact.

“It is sad and unfortunate what we live in Africa. We still paint a sad picture of who we are. This does not honor us as Africans. We are trapped in a room without air conditioning and without seating. There is no water for our players to hydrate.”

The national candidate, Pedro Gonçalves, called on FIFA to intervene.

“It’s a pity what we’re going through here. They threatened us in Luanda saying we would suffer retaliation because we asked them to give their tests before the match. FIFA and CAF should step in. It’s unfortunate. We already knew that. It would complicate us, which is why we prepared. Well from a logistical point of view. We don’t know when we’re going to the hotel, or even when we’re going to sleep.”

The Angola-Gabon match, in the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, in Luanda, was delayed by more than an hour and a half, due to the Gabonese team’s failure to carry out COVID-19 tests in Angolan soil.

However, FIFA decided to hold the match, considering that the tests conducted by the Gabonese in their country, two days before the match, which Angola won 3-1, were valid.

The two teams face each other again tomorrow, for the fourth round of qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, starting at 14:00.

The Angolans left the shortage due to the absence of “Captain” Freddy Ribeiro, who misses the match due to the accumulation of the yellow card.

In the African Group F qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, Angola is third with three points. The group is led by Egypt with seven, followed by Libya with six, and Gabon at the end, with one.