The Liberian Football Association has written to CAF requesting a change of venue for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with DR Congo, set to hold in Kinshasa on March 24 following the outbreak of Ebola in the central African nation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Congolese health authorities have confirmed 927 cases of Ebola contamination and 584 deaths since August 2018, but mostly registered in the North Kivu province in the eastern part of the country, far away from the venue of the said match.
The Liberian officials argue that it would be cruel to allow their players relive the Ebola trauma that rocked their own nation in 2014 /15.
“Considering our own experience of the Ebola disease that claimed a lot of lives among our brothers and sisters, we feel going to DR Congo to play could have a psychological effect on our players,” the Liberia FA secretary general Isaac Montgomery said.
“And it could negatively affect the performance of our players.”
CAF’s response is expected in the coming week, but a change of venue for the game is highly unlikely due to the fact that DR Congo successfully hosted Zimbabwe in the same competition last October.
Zimbabwe are leading Group G with 8 points followed by Liberia (7points), DR Congo (6 points) and Congo (5 points).
