Afcon 2021 Qualifiers: Olunga and Juma to miss Kenya vs Comoros over coronavirus

Afcon 2021 Qualifiers: Olunga and Juma to miss Kenya vs Comoros over coronavirus
NewsColony

The FKF confirms to Goal the two strikers will not travel to Kenya for the qualifying match against the Islanders on March 25

Kenya striker Michael Olunga is among the players who will not be available for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Comoros on March 25 due to the coronavirus.

Football Kenya Federation has confirmed to Goal the towering Olunga and Algerian-based striker Masoud Juma will not travel for the vital qualifier scheduled for Kasarani Stadium.

According to acting FKF CEO Barry Otieno, the government has notified the federation the two players will not travel from their bases as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“We wrote to the government asking them the countries which are allowed to land planes at JKIA and we were informed no plane is coming from Japan and Algeria, so that means we don’t have Olunga and Juma,” Otieno told Goal.

“It is a very tricky situation for us because we don’t know whether the other players in Europe will make it to Nairobi. Wanyama just moved to Canada and we don’t even know if they will release him for the match.”

On Friday, the Kenyan government moved to ban all conferences and meetings of more than 15 people of international nature for the next month, a move that left the qualifier hanging in the balance.

Asked on whether the government has communicated on the same, Otieno told Goal: “We have not received any information from them and we have not been told whether the match has been called off or not.

“This is a qualifier for Caf and as such the government must communicate to Caf before deciding to call it off. We are just waiting and monitoring the situation but as it stands, we have already named the squad to start training ahead of the match.

“We also have U17 team which is supposed to travel to Spain, so we don’t know if they will finally travel or not, so we are also waiting for the way forward.”

Apart from Olunga and Juma, other notable players in Europe include Johanna Omollo, Ayub Timbe, Eric Ouma, Eric Johanna, Joseph Okumu, Victor Wanyama and Ismael Gonzalez.

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