Covid-19 ravages Ivory Coast national team 5 days to AFCON tournament

Ivory Coast’ football federation has announced that seven of their players have tested positive for COVID-19 as the team prepares for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.

The seven unnamed players have been under observation since Friday and will continue to quarantine from the team’s training camp in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, in order to overcome any eventuality, Ivory Coast coach Patrice Beaumelle has placed several players including Fousseny Coulibaly, Amad Diallo, Eboué Kouassi and N’Drin Ulrich, on stand-by.

Ivory Coast begin their Group E campaign in Cameroon against Equatorial Guinea on 12 January before playing Sierra Leone and defending champions Algeria.

Algeria have also recorded several Covid-19 cases with Youcef Belaili, Mohamed Amine Tougai and Houcine Benayada being the casualties.

Ivory Coast recently named 28-man squad that includes the Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha who was reported to be on verge of announcing his international retirement.

Four Italy-based players are on the list with AC Milan’s Franck Kessie and Lazio’s Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro joined by Sassuolo pair Hamed Traore and Jeremie Boga.

Ivory Coast squad for Afcon 2021

Goalkeepers: Sylvain Gbohouo (Wolkite Ketema, Ethiopia), Badra Ali Sangare (JDR Stars, South Africa), Abdoul Karim Cisse (Asec Mimosas, Ivory Coast), Ira Eliezer Tape (San Pedro, Ivory Coast).

Defenders: Serge Aurier (Villarreal, Spain), Eric Bailly (Manchester United, England), Willy Boly (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England), Wilfried Kanon (Pyramids, Egypt), Odilon Kossounou (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Simon Deli (Adana Demirspor, Turkey), Ghislain Konan (Reims, France).

Midfielders: Habib Maiga (Metz, France), Maxwel Cornet (Burnley, England), Serey Die (Sion, Switzerland), Ibrahim Sangare (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Lazio, Italy), Franck Kessie (AC Milan, Italy), Hamed Traore and Jeremie Boga (both Sassuolo, Italy), Max Gradel (Sivasspor, Turkey), Jean Michael Seri (Fulham, England).

Forwards: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, England), Jean Evrard Kouassi (Trabzonspor, Turkey), Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal, England), Sebastien Haller (Ajax, Netherlands), Christian Kouame (Anderlecht, Belgium), Yohan Boli (Al-Rayyan, Qatar), Karim Konate (Asec Mimosas

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