DR Congo stick to pre-World Cup plan to meet Denmark, Chile in friendlies
KINSHASA: The Democratic Republic of Congo have no plans to change their warm-up preparations for the World Cup despite a warning from the United States that the team must isolate for 21 days before arriving in the country, a team official said on Saturday. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, confirmed to ESPN on Friday that the Congolese delegation needed to maintain a bubble where they are training in Belgium and isolate for 21 days or risk being denied entry after a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in the central African country. The Congolese team are to be based in Houston at the tournament and will play an opening Group K fixture against Portugal on June 17, followed by matches against Colombia on June 23 in Guadalajara, Mexico, and against Uzbekistan on June 27 in Atlanta. “We’ve been very clear to Congo that they should maintain the integrity of their bubble for 21 days before they can then come to Houston on June 11,” Giuliani said. “We’ve made it very clear to the Congo government as well that they need to maintain that bubble or they risk not being able to travel to the United States. We cannot be any clearer.” But a team spokesperson said that at this stage there was no change to their schedule in the coming weeks, which includes a friendly against Denmark in Liege, Belgium, on June 3 and another against Chile in Cadiz, Spain, six days later. The team had planned a three-day trip to Kinshasa next week as a celebratory send-off before heading to their first World Cup in 52 years but that was canceled before the US warning. “We have kept our training program.
