Congo players go on strike before cup opener
Reuters - Friday 18 January 2013, 11:04
Democratic Republic of Congo players refused to train on Friday as they
continued a sit-in over money while coach Claude Le Roy wrote a letter
of resignation on the eve of the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Assistant
coach Sebastien Migne said Le Roy had written his letter in the heat of
the moment and discussions on whether he would stay with the team were
taking place.
Congo Football
Federation president Constant Omari headed to Port Elizabeth on Friday
to deal with the strike, 48 hours before the team's opening match at the
tournament.
Before leaving
Johannesburg, Omari said all was fine in the camp but players have now
gone two days without training as they seek to force payment of promised
bonuses.
Players had also staged a mini strike during last weekend's training camp in the Middle East.
Most
players had already received payment but several of the team's coaching
staff had been left out and the strike was in solidarity with them,
officials said.
"We have had
nothing but problems throughout the build-up," Migne told reporters on
Friday. "We feel a little abandoned by the Congo government over the
issue of bonuses and allowances."
Squabbling
over bonus payments and allowances is a time-honoured tradition at the
Nations Cup, usually a three-way tussle between players, their football
association and government, who bankroll the campaign.
Frenchman
Le Roy, 64, is a towering figure in the African game and will extend
his record of tournament appearances to 29 games if he takes charge of
the Congolese side in their opening Group B match against Ghana in Port
Elizabeth on Sunday. He was a Nations Cup winner with Cameroon in 1988.