Footballers heading to next month's Africa Cup of Nations finals will be allowed to play for their clubs until January the 3rd, the Confederation of African Football [CAF] have confirmed. Many were set to miss matches because of the rule that dictates clubs must release players 14 days before a continental championship or the World Cup. However the CAF has agreed to allow players to play for their clubs between December the 27th and January the 3rd before joining up with their national squads for the Cup of Nations finals, which kick-off in Cameroon on January the 9th 2022.
Hammers who have benefited not a jot from games postponed and cannot seem to even buy a break at the moment, are due to face Palace at Selhurst Park on New Years Day. Had their been no last minute rule change, Palace would have been devoid of FOUR 1st team players, Wilfried Zaha, Cheikhou Kouyate, Jeffrey Schlupp and Jordan Ayew were ALL originally scheduled to travel on December the 28th!
The football Gods have definitely NOT been smiling on West Ham of late, this sudden rule change by the CAF is par to the course of the way things have been going for David Moyes in the past couple of months. Some might say that Hammers dreams of Champions League qualification have well and truly evaporated, leaving just a struggle for mid table mediocrity as the only fare on offer, however they forget that WEst Ham have already qualified for the knock out stages of the UEAFA Europa League Cup, unlike the mighty Barcelona who have to play a qualifier first in order to be in the pot to play West Ham or another of the automatic qualifiers.
Winning the Europa League Cup represents Hammers best chance of playing in the Champions League next year, of course being in the last sixteen means that there are only three sets of games to play ahead of reaching the final. It is a long shot, but by the time the next two legged match is played during March, West Ham will be back to full strength, at least on paper!
THe AFCON rule change shows just how fast the landscape is changing and no one knows for sure as to exactly how much impact the new Omicron strain of Covid will impact the football calendar, both domestically and Internationally. - Ed
