The dream, or the obsession, depending on how you look at it, never goes away. Just twenty days before the start of the World Cup, with the opening match between Mexico and South Africa set for 11 June at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City, Paolo Zampolli returns to talk about Italy’s repechage with the same conviction as in recent weeks, only this time Iran has nothing to do with it.
As we had already reported at the beginning and end of April, the hypothesis of the Italian repechage revolved around the possible exclusion of Iran due to the conflict in the Middle East. However, Infantino had already closed that door in Antalya, appearing in the stands at the Iran-Costa Rica friendly and declaring the full participation of the Persian national team. Now the target has moved, the new scenario bears the signature of the Democratic Republic of Congo, grappling with an Ebola epidemic which is making the African national team’s pre-World Cup path uncertain.
What Zampolli said
Host of the program Forehand and backhand hosted by Paolo Del Debbio on Rete 4, Zampolli (Special Envoy of the United States for Global Partnerships, Milanese by birth, New Yorker by adoption, Trump’s right-hand man) summarized the reasoning of recent months. He recalled having personally written to the American president to propose Italy as a replacement for Iran, with the argument that many young people have never seen the national team play in a World Cup (the last appearance dates back to 2014) and that four world titles deserve more respect.
Then the change of scenery. Zampolli stated:
Everything is possible, my dream remains. Now something else happened. Unfortunately, Ebola, this disease that we had a few years ago in Africa, broke out in Congo and there are already 500 cases, 150 deaths, crazy numbers that we know about. And they canceled the retreat in Congo, in Kinshasa. It seems they are sending the players to Belgium to train
The conclusion is the same as always: according to Trump’s emissary, the Congolese epidemic “would free up a second slot available for the Azzurri, after that of Iran”, and it would be “really difficult not to think of the Italian national team as the first idea”. Here you can find the video of the interview (the part about the World Cup from minute 14:30).
What the facts say
Zampolli’s factual premise is partially true. The Football Federation of the Democratic Republic of Congo has effectively canceled the training camp planned in Kinshasa and the public ceremony to greet fans in the capital, due to an outbreak of Ebola in the east of the country, a rare variant known as Bundibugyowhich reportedly caused more than 130 deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases.
In the meantime, the Congolese national team has expressed itself through team spokesperson Jerry Kalemo, who specified to the Associated Press that the preparatory friendlies (against Denmark in Liège on 3 June and against Chile in Spain on 9 June) will take place regularly, and that the third phase of preparation, scheduled in the United States starting from 11 June, is confirmed. The key point is another, given that all the players called up play for European clubs and have not set foot in Congo for months. FIFA said it was following the situation carefully, specifying that it was in close contact with the Congolese Federation to ensure that the players receive all the necessary health information.
As for American border controls, the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main US federal agency for public health protection) has announced more stringent measures for foreign citizens who have visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.
The regulation does not change
As already explained in our previous pieces, article 6.7 of the FIFA regulations leaves the federation full discretion in the event of withdrawal and/or exclusion of a participating team. However, there is no specific regulation on the repechage and, a not irrelevant detail, Congo has not withdrawn, has not been excluded, is playing friendlies, and its players have flights booked for Houston. Zampolli, for his part, also keeps the Iranian front open, still believing the possibility of a disqualification is real, which according to him would lead to a second slot available for the Azzurri. FIFA, even on that front, has not released statements that go in that direction. In any case, it would be very sad if Italy were to be rescued due to a dramatic epidemic and not because it really deserves it.
