Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has blasted the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after he and his Gabon team-mates were made to feel like “hostages” at an Airport ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Gambia.
The Panthers were seen sleeping at the Banjul International Airport, in a video shared via Instagram by the Arsenal captain.
The team, due to face fellow West Africans Gambia on Monday, reportedly arrived in Bakau late on Sunday night and were delayed upon arrival at the airport.
Reports also claim their passports were seized by Gambian immigration officers on the grounds of coronavirus safety despite the team providing negative test results for checks.
Aubameyang shared videos and photographs on Instagram of his team-mates lurking around the airport after having their passports taken from them.
As time went on, new footages of visibly knackered Gabonese players emerged again on Aubameyang’s Instagram live.
Some of them were even trying to sleep on the floor of the airport, using their luggage as pillows.
After a three hour wait, Aubameyang posted a video accompanied by a caption: “Still waiting to enter Gambia, and we play at 4 pm. Nice.”
He soon posted a follow-up that showed the team having a chat and playing music, this time with a caption: “they will not discourage us.”
Gabon finally got cleared to enter the country with just 10 hours left before the game.
“This will not demotivate us but people need to know and especially that Caf takes these responsibilities. In 2020, we want Africa to grow and this is not how we’re going to get there!!” Aubameyang tweeted.
Aubameyang’s posts shed light on CAF’s long struggle with proper organisation even as he insisted that he and his team-mates will not be derailed by their travel delays heading into Monday’s game.
Gabon are on course to qualify for the 2022 AFCON in Cameroon after missing the previous edition in Egypt.
They sit top of Group D after a 2-1 victory over Gambia in the reverse fixture took them to the summit of the Group D table with 7 points.
We Africans need to get our acts together.
That was awful. Caf better look into this.