There was late drama in Freetown yesterday as the Benin national team refused to play the Africa Nations Cup decider with Sierra Leone after five of their first-team players were declared Covid-19 positive by the Sierra Leone media authorities.
Benin disputed the validity of the test results, saying that original test results in their country prove negative and refused to play. Their players even refused to alight from their bus. Mohamed Faja Barrie of the BBC reported that the match scheduled for 4pm ‘will be delayed after players of the Squirrels of Benin refused to get off their bus at the Siaka Stavens stadium after they were told that five of them had been tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. One of Benin officials says they don’t believe that the players have the virus and that all of them including the goalkeeper are in their starting line up.’
This unexpected development set social media buzzing with all kinds of speculations and even conspiracy theories.
As anxiety reigned supreme, it was announced the match would now be played at 7PM with the Squirrels having to play without the five covid-positive players
Then , kickoff was switched from 7pm to 9 pm.
The drama however did not go away. It lingered through the evening before it was announced that CAF had in fact called off the match indefinitely, announcing that it was investigating the matter.
This resulted in the nation being plunged into a whole night of anxiety for both Sierra Leone and Benin before it was announced this morning that CAF had now decided that the match will be played in the next FIFA international window in June.
