[ 2015-01-29 ]

Avram Grant: Late change of venue to Malabo is an inconvenience
Black Stars Coach Avram Grant has admitted that
the late decision by CAF for Ghana to move from
Mongomo to Malabo for the 2015 Africa Cup of
Nations quarter-final clash is an inconvenience to
the team.

The Black Stars, who are awaiting CAF to decide on
whether their quarter-final opponent will be
Guinea or Mali, will leave for Malabo on Thursday
morning.

According to the initial fixture schedule, the
Black Stars would have remained in Mongomo to play
their next opponent in the last 8 after finishing
on top of Group C.

But CAF took the decision for the qualified teams
from Group C, Ghana and Algeria, to play their
quarter-final matches in the 15,250-capacity Nuevo
Estadio de Malabo on Saturday.

This is because the AFCON 2015 Local Organizing
Committee insisted that hosting the quarter-final
clash between Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia in
Ebebiyin could cause a stampede since the venue
can only hold 8,000 fans, meaning all the
quarter-final matches had to be moved to Malabo
and Bata.

“Changing our venue now is difficult but I
don’t want to complain. I said that the
organization is very good, but I hope they (CAF)
would let us know some of the things before they
decide. In any case, we would have to play
well,” Grant said in a post-match interview.

The former Chelsea Boss had earlier criticized the
Local Organizing Committee of the continental
tournament over the bad timing of the team’s
pre-match press conferences and the team’s bus,
which he said moved like a ship.

Source - dailysoccerghana.com

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