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Kenitra – Vahid Halilhodzic, Morocco’s national football team coach, has said that Morocco’s Atlas Lions are “blocked” in Guinea as “Moroccan authorities are doing everything to help us.”
The Bosnian coach spoke to Sports magazine L’Equipe hours after reports confirmed a successful military coup in Guinea, where the Moroccan team had travelled on Friday to play against the guinean team at the General Lansana Conte stadium in Conakry, the Guinean capital.
After their 2-0 victory over Sudan earlier this week in Rabat, Morocco’s Atlas Lions were supposed to face Guinea on Monday, September 6, as part of the second day of the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
“We are in the hotel, we’ve been hearing gunshots next door all day. We are waiting for permission to leave for the airport, but we are blocked,” said the coach in a telephone interview.
Halilhodzic confirmed reports of a Moroccan plane chartered for the teams’ repatriation, saying: “A plane is waiting for us at the Conakry airport, but we don’t have permission to leave. The ride to the airport takes between 45 minutes to an hour, when you hear the gunshots outside, the security is not 100% assured. We don’t really know what’s going on outside the hotel. There have been gunshots fired since 10 o’clock this morning.”
The hotel where the national team is staying is close to the presidential palace, where Guinean President Alpha Conde was captured, following gunfire exchange between the presidential guard and a group of the country’s Special Forces Group led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya.
Vahid Halilhodzic said the team and technical staff are “not reassured,” and that the Moroccan delegation is quite anxious. He added, however, that “Moroccan authorities, including His Majesty, are very committed to helping us.”
Hours after local and international media confirmed the coup in Guinea, the African confederation of Football (CAF) announced the postponement of the Guinea-Morocco game.
“The current political and security situation in Guinea is quite volatile and is being closely monitored by FIFA and CAF,” CAF said in a statement. “FIFA and CAF have decided to postpone the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying match Guinea vs. Morocco.”
The CAF statement did not offer further information regarding the rescheduled date or venue of the match, saying that “rescheduling information will be made available at a later date.”
In his interview with L’Equipe, Halilhodzic said “there is a possibility that the match will be played in Morocco.”
Despite the Guinean Ministry of Defense denying the capture of President Conde in a statement, the Special Forces Group released a video confirming the success of the coup.
In the video, Colonel Doumbouya, head of the putschists, said: “Fellow Guineans, the dire political-situation of our country, the instrumentalization of the judiciary, the non-respect of democratic principles, the extreme politicization of public administration, as well as poverty and corruption… have compelled the army, through the Committee of National Rally and Development (CNRD), to take its responsibility.”
