Afcon 2015: Sympathize with Morocco

Forum 9 years ago

Afcon 2015: Sympathize with Morocco

Despite the indignation that swept Twitter yesterday evening when Morocco expressed their desire to postpone the 2015 Cup of Nations, we should all have seen it coming.

Counting down to the nation’s Afcon announcement felt much like watching the last 45 minutes of the Titanic…except with less splashing and fewer icebergs.
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I remember one beloved ex-girlfriend handing me my Christmas gift many years ago, a brand-new journal I had specifically asked for, with the exquisite words “No guessing games here, Ed.”

She was right.
And it was as though Morocco had uttered that same phrase yesterday evening as the statement from their Ministry of Sport read, simply: “The Kingdom of Morocco maintains its request to postpone the Orange Cup of Nations 2015 to 2016”.

No guessing games here, guys.
This one had been coming, Morocco had set out their stall early on, while ‘noises’ emanating from the country during the day (picked up on by Mark Gleeson among others) indicated that they hadn’t been convinced to change their position.

Following the statement, however, some were incredulous. Goal Ghana contributor Fiifi Anaman announced “The timing is everything that is wrong with this decision.”
Really?
Morocco haven’t just sprung this upon everyone at the last minute.

They haven’t just decided, as the tournament bunting begins to be raised to the rafters, that they actually don’t really fancy hosting the Cup of Nations in January 2015 after all.

As early as October 11 BBC Sport reported that the government of Morocco had written to the Confederation of African Football to delay the tournament because of Ebola. The country’s ministry, influenced and informed by their Department of Health, have stuck to their guns and cannot be accused of either springing this upon everyone at a late stage or of inconsistency with regards to their concerns about the timing of the Cup of Nations.