O Ebola outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo will interfere in the preparation of the selection for the World cup. The City Council of La Línea de La Concepción, in the province of Cádiz, in Spain, suspended the friendly scheduled between the team and Chine, which would take place at the Ciudad de La Línea stadium, due to an “insufficiency of health information” about the group.
Juan Franco, mayor of the city, signed a decree last Tuesday (2) revoking the authorization given for the match, according to “El País”. To the newspaper, Franco stated that he requested more information from international health authorities, but received no answers.
In the document, the City Council asks for technical assistance so that other health bodies can investigate the conditions of the Congolese team’s travel, and an explicit statement from the Regional Government of Andalusia on possible risks.
It is worth remembering that the Democratic Republic of Congo team is preparing for the World Cup in Europe. Until the beginning of this week, the Andalusian government stated that it did not have enough information to carry out a risk analysis for the game to go ahead.
The decision only applies to the match against Chile. The friendly between Northern Ireland and Guinea does not change. The La Línea stadium frequently hosts friendly matches due to its owner’s relationships with companies that organize the matches.
Technician says DR Congo will respect protocols
. The statement was made by coach Sébastien Desabre this Tuesday (2), amid the Ebola outbreak affecting the African country.
The coach highlighted that the team will follow all health restrictions and protocols determined by FIFA throughout the competition. According to him, the situation does not interfere with the delegation’s preparation for the tournament.
“All the players came from Europe, and the local team respected the deadlines to leave the country, so this does not affect us in any way on a daily basis,” said Desabre during a press conference.
