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HOUSTON — As the Congolese national team prepares to play its first World Cup game in 52 years on Wednesday, June 17 against Portugal, the African nation’s ongoing Ebola outbreak might affect fan support in the stands.
The CDC issued travel restrictions to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the United States. While members of the Congo World Cup team were cleared to participate and permitted to fly to the U.S. after a mandatory isolation period, many of the country’s fans were unable to travel to watch the tournament.
“We were very sad, to be honest,” Congo coach Sébastien Desabre said on Tuesday, June 16. “Some of our supporters, some of our fans who have been with us since day one – they’ve always been with us, always been supporting us, so we are sad that they cannot travel and come here to attend the games. We will try to send out the right mood and make sure they see us wherever they are and feel happy about us.”
Although the majority of Congo’s national team players were playing soccer outside the country, the Ebola crisis did disrupt its pre-World Cup schedule. Last month, the Congo national team scrapped its plan to hold a three-day training camp in the Congolese capital city of Kinshasa. The team instead trained in Belgium, where Desabre said they had a “completely normal preparation phase.”
But after playing one warm-up friendly match against Denmark in Belgium, Congo was forced to relocate its second friendly match against Chile after local authorities in Spain canceled the match because of public health concerns over the Ebola crisis. The match took place without spectators in France.
At the request of American authorities, the Congolese team quarantined for 21 days before it flew from Paris to Houston, where it set up its World Cup base camp.
“For the team, for the preparation internally, it was not impactful,” Desabre said. “Now for our fans, of course, when you play outside of the country typically we are very much followed. It’s something we love to share with our fans. There were highs and lows throughout our time together, they were always with us, so for us of course something will be missing. But I trust the diaspora, I trust all of those that love Congo. They will be there to support us.”
On June 16, Desabre said all 26 players on Congo’s roster are healthy and available to play against Portugal. After that, Congo will face Colombia in Guadalajara on June 23 and Uzbekistan in Atlanta on June 27.