Austrian based duo of striker Patson Daka and midfielder Enock Mwepu will miss Zambia’s three friendly matches this month after their club Redbull Salzburg recorded three positive COVID-19 cases.
According to an official statement from the Austrian Bundesliga Champions accessed by the ZamFoot Crew, Three players have tested positive for COVID-19 after the first round of tests following their UEFA Champions League play-off second leg encounter against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“The first corona test after the UEFA Champions League play-off match against Maccabi Tel-Aviv has shown that three players of FC Red Bull Salzburg have a positive test result. These players, all currently without symptoms, have immediately gone into quarantine and will be absent for the Bundesliga match against TSV Prolactal Hartberg. In accordance with the COVID-19 prevention concept, the Bundesliga, the Austrian Football Association, and the responsible health authority were informed.”
Salzburg went on to say that the rest of the team is now in team quarantine and can only move between their homes and the training pitch or match venue and anything any contact outside this is not allowed.
The club also confirmed that all the national team invitations for Salzburg players have to now be canceled since the players can’t travel as they are in quarantine.
“The rest of the team goes to team quarantine according to this prevention concept. In concrete terms, this means that they are only allowed to move between their homes, the training location, or the match venue. Contact beyond that is not envisaged. Of course, the frequency of checks will also be increased in the near future.
Furthermore, all national team invitations of FC Red Bull Salzburg players for the next two weeks have to be canceled.”
Zambia is set to face Malawi on the 7th, Kenya on the 10th, and South Africa on the 12th of this month, and coach Milutin Sredojevic will now have to do so without two key players as he will prepare for back to back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Botswana in November.
Other Salzburg players called up for national duty are Austrian goalkeeper Cican Stankovic, Austrian right-back Andreas Ulmer, Hungarian midfield ace Dominik Szoboszlai and Malian duo of midfielder Mohammed Camara and striker Sekou Koita.
We will miss your Services guys. On one hand, its a chance for coach Micho to try different combinations.
We would have loved to see these guys play at home