15 December 2021 – Can Ibrahim Sangaré and Sébastien Haller participate in January when PSV and Ajax go head-to-head? The Africa Cup of Nations is currently slated for January, but the odds seem growing that the tournament will end. This has to do with the spread of the omicron variant around the world.
RMC Sport reports that the African Football Association (CAF) is discussing the continuation of the tournament. The tournament was originally supposed to start on January 9, 2022 and end on February 6, but now there may be a line crossing it. After several national coaches have expressed themselves critically about the tournament, English clubs have now also announced that they do not support the Africa Cup of Nations to go ahead.
African players who are active in the UK must first be quarantined after participating in the tournament. That means clubs will have to lose their players even longer. That could be a problem, as the number of infections is also not going well in the UK. If there is an outbreak in a team, it is inconvenient if the football players are also missing due to the tournament.
If the Africa Cup of Nations really doesn’t happen, it’s not bad news for Ajax and PSV. The people of Eindhoven will miss Sangaré, one of the strongholds this season. Haller, Andre Onan, Mohammed Kudus and Noussair Mazraoui could be called up to the team from Amsterdam, although the latter has not been called up to Morocco in recent international matches.
Incidentally, that would also be good news for FC Twente and NEC. Ramiz Zerrouki plays for the Tukkers, who now have a permanent place in the Algerian election. Souffian El Karouani is under contract with the Nijmegen team. The full-back has been called up for the Moroccan national team.
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