Sierra Leone’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin that was rescheduled for June 14 in Conakry has been rescheduled once again after the hosts refused to accept the results of Covid-19 tests presented to them.
Leone Stars delegation refused to go into the encounter after six of their players namely Ibrahim Sesay, Francis Koroma, Augustus Kargbo, Idriss Kanu, Alusin Koroma and Kassim Sima Turay tested positive for the virus.
Sierra Leone had claimed to have taken tests 72 hours earlier which produced negative results for all of the squad, and duly refused to play after the Guinean authorities declared their six players to have tested positive for Covid-19.
Following the long hiatus, a Sierra Leone FA official confirmed that the encounter will be played on Tuesday morning at the same venue following the confirmation of the second set of the results.
The PCR tests conducted indicated that the six players have returned a positive result, though the CAF doctors are yet to confirm.
However, the CAF Competitions committee is yet to comment on the situation, or clarify whether either of the teams will be charged for causing the match to delay.
The same scenario occurred on March 30 where the clash was overshadowed again by Covid -19 controversy after Benin refused to accept the results of tests presented to them by Sierra Leone.
Benin only need to draw the match to be sure of qualification for the Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon in 2022.
But if Sierra Leone win the game, they will qualify at Benin’s expense, as by definition they will have a better goal difference.
