Following the recent request for postponement of AFCON 2015 by the supposed host country, Morocco, due to the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, Borussia Dortmund coach, Jurgen Klopp has pleaded with FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) take the threat of Ebola seriously.
However, CAF has already rejected every request by Morocco and have maintained that all the series of qualifying matches be played out across the continent in weeks’ time, with Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang actively playing for Gabon and scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over Burkina Faso on Saturday, October 11, 2014.
Klopp, is of the opinion that football matches cannot be placed ahead the welfare of the players especially when the risk involved might take the life of the subject of argument, the players.
“I don’t know whether the players think about it [Ebola], but I think a lot about it,” the BVB boss told Goal News on Thurday October 16, 2014
“I spoke a lot with ‘Auba’ about it, tried to sensitise him of the problem as he was away with his national team.
“Young people are green; they don’t think that much about such things.
He also said that he does not understand how FIFA that can assume that of all things, the borders in Africa are safe enough that no Ebola-infected person can travel to another country.
“If there is one country in Africa which has the feeling that it can’t host the Cup safely then this has to be the priority, not the Africa Cup”.
“You have to take this seriously and can’t shut your eyes. There will be a lot people from all over Africa in Morocco to watch the games and only a few of them would have undergone the best medical checks.”
