Did Queiroz boycott the pre-Morocco-Egypt conference?
The question remains unanswered so far. Still, the press conference before the Morocco-Egypt meeting on behalf of the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations (AC 2021), had to be canceled on Saturday, due to the absence of the Egyptian delegation, and its trainer, Carlos Queiroz.
Unable to explain the situation, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) initially postponed the meeting with the press to 6:00 p.m. (instead of 4:15 p.m.), to finally cancel it and apologize to the presence , the Portuguese technician never having arrived.
“We regret to announce the cancellation of the press conference of the national team of Egypt”, indicated the media manager of CAF.
“The latest news we have does not bring the team back here for the next 30 minutes, we are no longer able to organize the conference,” he added, noting that “CAF would like to apologize for this odd independent of his will”.
He nevertheless assured that the media service “will report to the hierarchy”.
A sanction should be recorded against the Egyptian Football Federation and the Portuguese coach for this unjustified absence.
Note that, for his part, the coach of the Atlas Lions, Vahid Halilhodžić, who was present alongside the player Soufiane Boufal, assured that the quarter-final match between Morocco and Egypt, will be ” a tactical battle between two teams who know each other well”.
“This match is the continuation of a great football story between the two selections. The advantage of the confrontations is largely in favor of the Atlas Lions, although in the last years things have become + a little balanced +”, he added.
Boufal, for his part, was pleased that so far “everything is going very well”.
“The coach asked me to be very effective in front of goal (…). If a lot is expected of me, I will take it in my favor to give even more, ”he said.
