SC Paderborn 06 of Germany defender, Jamilu Collins has found relief coming his way, following the decision by Confederation of African Football n(CAF) to postpone the next round of qualifiers for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, as it means his club officials will now relax over the issue of him travelling or not.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, with coronavirus running riot all across Europe and leaving many sporting events cancelled, top shots at Paderborn had been left worried over the prospects of Collins and other international players in their club travelling out of Germany to keep dates with their national teams.
However, CAF’s announcement late Friday means Collins and his club will no longer have to worry about him travelling to meet up with an an appearance for the Super Eagles in their March 27 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone, as a top official at his club believes none of the players should be allowed to travel out of the country.
Collins already has some injury concern over him, following a knock he copped in German Bundesliga action last weekend, but the fear of coronavirus accentuated worries among Pardeborn’s top brass.
That was the verdict of the club’s sporting director, Martin Przondziono, who believes Collins and other players from the club should not be released for trips to Africa to feature for their countries in the next stage of the AFCON 2021 qualifiers, in which Nigeria will play against Sierra Leone at home in Asaba on March 27 and away in the immediate reverse fixture four days later.
Collins is one of seven Paderborn players called up for international duty this month, along with Antwi-Adjei of Ghana, Mohamed Dräger of Tunisia, Laurent Jans of Luxembourg, Klaus Gjasula of Albania, Sebastian Vasiliadis of Greece and Samuel Fridjonsson of Iceland, but Przondziono wants all of them to stay put at the club’s base in Germany.
It is another hurdle for the dark-skinned left-back, who is already in doubt, after failing to train with his teammates at the start of this week, due to an ankle complaint he copped in last weekend’s 2-1 loss away to Kingsley Ehizibue’s FC Cologne, but the suspension of matches due to coronavirus will now give him adequate time to recover.
Collins will now take solace in CAF’s suspension of the AFCON qualifiers, following his club’s official statement on the matter of him travelling to the Eagles’ camp, considering the stern verdict from Przondziono, who told German regional daily newspaper, Neue Westfalische: “Actually, you shouldn’t send the boys on the trip.”
