Zimbabwe: Afcon Hotel Condemned As Sub-Standard

THE hotel, which the Warriors have been allocated for their 2021 AFCON finals in Cameroon, has been condemned as a sub-standard facility.

Zimbabwe will share the same hotel, in the city of Bafoussam, with their Group B opponents, Malawi.

Group favourites, Senegal and Guinea, will share another hotel.

The allocation for hotels is based on the draw.

Football Association of Malawi president, Walter Nyamilandu, told The Nation newspaper, said were concerned about the poor state of the hotel, and distance to the stadium.

"There is nothing much we can do about the distance to the stadium, but we will request CAF to look into the hotel, because it is sub-standard," he said.

"While CAF is enforcing high standards of stadia, with member associations, they should also do the same with the LOC (Local Organising Committee) in terms of hotel accommodation for participating teams.

"It is, therefore, important that the players must be provided with decent food and comfortable lodging. This is apart from excellent facilities for relaxation and recovery."

Zimbabwe will play their first two group matches, against Senegal and Malawi, at Kouekong Stadium.

The Warriors will then travel to Yaoundé, for the final group match against Guinea, at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.

Warriors team manager, Wellington Mpandare, who has just returned from Cameroon, where he attended the draw, and inspected the facilities, said they were not happy with the state of the hotel.

They were also concerned with the distance, from the hotel to the stadium, where they will play their two Group B matches.

"We toured the facilities and went to the hotel with Malawi coach Meke Mwase," he told The Herald.

"There were issues that were raised because in that area it appears there are no good hotels.

"The distance from the hotel, to the stadium is about 70km, and the road is bad. It's a small winding road, in a mountainous area and officially one-way travel is supposed to take an hour.

"But, with the nature of the road, it's more than that, almost one hour thirty minutes to two hours. We have raised the issue with the coordinators."

The Warriors team management are also closely following the developments in Europe, where uncertainty now surrounds the availability of some of their key players, for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers next month.

It is almost a replay of the horror, during the final 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia, in March this year, when Zimbabwe could not secure the services of most of their Europe-based stars.

Zimbabwe's stars in the United Kingdom could be barred, by their clubs, from coming home to play in the World Cup qualifiers, because of Covid-19 protocols.

FIFA had allowed clubs to withhold players from international duty, in the event they faced more than five days in quarantine, on their return to their bases.

While this has been scrapped, the decision by Liverpool, to block four of their stars, including Mohamed Salah, from playing in their World Cup qualifiers, could set a damaging precedence.

"We understand the English Premiership, and the English Football Association, are lobbying with their Government for special waivers but, so far, we have not heard how far these talks have gone," said Warriors team manager, Wellington Mpandare.

"On our part, we have written to the clubs requesting the players for these important games and, so far, no club has responded to say we are not giving you the players.

"Some of the players themselves are still to know what is going to happen and we have had inquiries, from them, asking what the position is.

"We were supposed to name our squad (today) but now, with all the uncertainties, we may have to hold on until we get a clearer picture of what is happening."

This article originally appeared on The Herald

Photo: The Herald