Comoros forced to start outfield player in goal against Cameroon in AFCON Round of 16

Left-back Chaker Alhadhur will be in goal for the Comoros Islands when they take on African Cup of Nations hosts Cameroon in their round of 16 clash at the Stade d’Olembe, Yaoundé.

The move comes after goalkeeper Ali Ahamada was banned from playing despite testing negative for COVID on Monday morning.

On Sunday, the islanders, playing in their first Nations Cup, confirmed they would have to use an outfield player between the posts for the biggest game in the country’s football history after all three of their goalkeepers were ruled out.

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Goalkeepers Ahamada and Moyadh Oussenini were among the 12 positive COVID cases identified over the weekend, while Salim Ben Boina, who was praised for his heroism against Morocco, is still recovering from a shoulder injury.

On Monday, Comoros, whose head coach Amir Abdou is also isolating, was buoyed by news that Ahamada had received a negative coronavirus test result, duly ending his quarantine in Garoua and taking him to Yaoundé for the late.

However, when the teams were revealed ahead of the round of 16 meeting, Alhadhur, who plays in Ligue 2 with AC Ajaccio, was named Comoros’ starting goalkeeper, after the African Football Confederation ruled that Ahamada could not participate. due to tournament COVID protocol.

According to the CAF Medical Commission, the players will have to isolate themselves for five days after testing positive before returning to action in the competition, so even if Ahamada tested negative on Monday, he will not be able to compete against the Indomitable Lions.

The Comorian Football Federation appears to have been unaware of this ruling, which had been clarified by CAF on the eve of Monday’s meeting, and was convinced that both Ahamada and defensive midfielder Yacine Bourhane, who also flew in to join the team on Monday afternoon, would be able to participate.

Alhadhur, 30, is one of the Coelacantes team’s most experienced bosses, having made his international debut in 2014. He has represented the likes of Nantes, Caen and Chateauroux during a career devoted exclusively to French football.

Despite this late setback, Comoros, ranked 132nd in the world, had already made a contingency plan on Sunday, anticipating that they would be left without a recognized goalkeeper for the encounter with Cameroon.

“We meet with the staff, discuss things, get all the healthy players together and try to put things into perspective,” goalkeeping coach Jean-Daniel Padovani said at Sunday’s news conference.

“We have some potential goalkeepers and we laugh about it, we prefer to approach it this way. It’s fun.”

There are some who have shown during training that they can play as goalkeepers, but it is a strange situation, so we are working on all possible solutions.”

Nakibou Aboubakari, Mohamed M’Changama, the experienced Kassim Abdallah and Alexis Souahy are among the Comoros players who were unable to take part in the match, with the quartet isolated in Garoua.

Comoros are currently enjoying a fairytale run to their first Nations Cup, having defeated Ghana 3-2 in their last group match to eliminate the four-time champions and reach the round of 16 in their coast.

Despite not having a recognized goalkeeper for the match, Comoros must play the match after CAF rules stated that a team must take the field as long as it has a minimum of 11 players available.