*Covid-19 fingered for second round qualifiers shift to ‘ember months’
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Super Eagles who were scheduled to open their 2022 World Cup second round qualifying campaign against the Lone Star of Liberia on June 6 in Lagos, may have to wait a little longer.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) ruled yesterday that the qualifiers have been moved from June to September due to the recent spread of the Covid-19 that has made it impossible for some of the venues to host matches.
CAF said in a statement yesterday that the decision was made in conjunction with FIFA “taking into consideration the current disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to ensure optimal playing conditions for all teams.”
The qualifiers were scheduled to begin in early June, having already been postponed from October last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cape Verde and Central African Republic are the other teams in Group C.
Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr was expected to release his list of 50 players to use during these qualifiers for the race to Qatar 2022.
Just this week, CAF issued a list of approved stadiums for the first two rounds of qualifiers, which left a quarter of the 40 teams competing for places in Qatar 2022 without a venue to play their home matches.
The Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos to host Super Eagles games of the qualifiers was given all- clear as the rate of Covid-19 infectious was under considerable control in the country.
Countries who were affected include Senegal, who competed at the last World Cup in Russia in 2018, and Mali, who were among the top seeded teams for the preliminaries.
Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Niger and Sierra Leone have all also been affected.
There has also been concern over travel restrictions placed on players coming from Europe, many of whom had to sit out March’s final round of qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations due to some host countries being on the ‘red lists’ of European nations due to the pandemic.
According to CAF, the shift in calendar means there will now be two rounds of World Cup qualifiers in each of the FIFA international windows in September, October and November this year, essentially concluding the group phase in 11 weeks.
The 10 group winners will then advance to the final playoff stage in March, which is contested on a home and away basis, where the five victors will earn their place in Qatar.
