The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are willing to play their pre-World Cup friendly with Chile behind closed doors, their head coach Sebastien Desabre said, after the mayor of the Spanish town due to host the match cancelled it over Ebola concerns.
“I have signed the decree banning the holding of the June 9 match between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile,” said Juan Franco, mayor of La Linea de la Concepcion, near Gibraltar in southern Spain. Franco said it was a “precautionary measure” following recommendations by the Andalusia regional government’s health service.
Desabre, speaking on the eve of a friendly with Denmark in Liege, Belgium, said he had not given up hope of the match going ahead. “There are other stadiums. There’s the option of playing behind closed doors. There are several possibilities,” he said.
“The only thing I can say is that we’re used to adapting, and whatever happens, we’ll have no problem adapting to all these situations.”
The DRC, who qualified for their first World Cup since 1974 when they featured as Zaire, cancelled a planned pre-World Cup training camp at home after an Ebola outbreak last month and have been based in Belgium instead.
Desabre said all required precautionary measures have been taken. “We are following the restrictions related to FIFA regarding medical organisation. The doctors are in contact with FIFA,” he said.
The outbreak of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever was declared in eastern DRC in mid-May. US authorities said on May 22 that Congo’s squad must isolate for 21 days before being allowed into the US for the World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 19 and is co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.
During the tournament, they plan to be based in Houston, Texas, where they will play their first Group K match on June 17 against Portugal. They are then scheduled to head to Guadalajara, Mexico, to play Colombia on June 24 before returning to the US to play Uzbekistan in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 28.
The FIFA World Cup begins on June 11. You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated World Cup 2026 page with all the latest news, match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings, real-time match results and schedules.
Source: www.aljazeera.com