By Abdelaziz Abuhamar in Cairo, Egypt
June 19 – Media were kept waiting and wondering for 40 minutes in Egypt for the pre-AFCON 2019 press conference in Cairo Stadium. CAF Assistant General Secretary for Football development Anthony Baffoe eventually showed up to get the press show on the road.
Baffoe (pictured) said he had another important meeting to finish and then turned his attention to showering praise on the host Egypt saying that they are delivering the best quality for the tournament.
“Even Egypt has good football infrastructure, they opted to modify all the stadiums and for the first time every participating team has a separate training venue,” he said, adding that the development department committee he chairs in CAF managed to extend the pre-arrival time from 3 to 5 days for all the 24 African national teams.
Baffoe also noted that the AFCON shift from January-February to June-July was a major development for the tournament as it means players like Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and dozens of other European-based players are in best form.
“Newcomers like Benin, Burundi and Mauritania will add new colours to AFCON and I am sure we will have exciting matches,” he said.
Answering a question on the VAR technology given the dilemma of the second-leg of the CAF Champions League 2019 final, Baffoe said we will take all measures to ensure the VAR system is in place.
Meanwhile, the corruption-plagued CAF chief Ahmad Ahmad is due to brief media tomorrow on the latest developments within the AFCON organisation, ahead of the kick-off on Friday when Egypt meets Zimbabwe in the opening match.
Contact the writer of this story, Abdelaziz Abuhamar, at moc.l1735095174labto1735095174ofdlr1735095174owedi1735095174sni@o1735095174fni1735095174