Team manager of the Central African Republic, Willy Kongo has explained why the Wild Beast chose to lock horns with Ghana in Angola.
The game involving four-time African champions Ghana and the Central African Republic will be staged at the Estadio da Cidadela in Luanda, Angola. The stadium takes up to 40,000 spectators but as confirmed on our noble platform the game will be played behind closed doors.
The central African Republic opted for Angola because they do not have a CAF-approved stadium to host international matches after their home ground Barthélemy Boganda Stadium was banned.
50,000 capacity Stade Barthélemy Boganda, in Bangui, is the national stadium of the Central African Republic but is currently unavailable for international matches.
Following the ban, the Wild Beast opted to play their home game in Douala, Cameroon.
In August last year, CAF banned eight countries from hosting World Cup qualifiers but the Central African Republic is yet to get approval from the African football governing body.
The decision was taken after the countries failed CAF’s venue inspections.
According to the manager, the team will spend two days on their way to host Ghana in Douala, Cameroon and it will be better to stay in Angola to continue with their preparations for the game after a 2-1 defeat on matchday 1. He clarified that the team will be stressed before the game against the Black Stars should they embark on a journey to play the West African side in Douala.
“As you know our stadium is refused by CAF so we cannot play in our country and we don’t have a station flight. Normally we use to play ours in Douala, Cameroon. The problem is if we play against Angola then in the second game we have to go to Douala and we will spend two days by normal flight so it is better to stay here, continue our work than travel two days without training and everything so that’s why we chose to stay here and thanks to the federation and development of Angola to accept to host our game here,” He told Ghanasportspage.com.
The Wild Beast is in search of qualifications for their first-ever AFCON and is hopeful to stun Ghana this afternoon.
They sit third without any point on the table whiles Ghana is leading with three points courtesy of their 3-0 win over Madagascar.
