In August it was barred “until further notice” by African soccer officials from playing in its own stricken country, turning it into an itinerant team that must play every match on the road as it struggles to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the continent’s biennial championship.
At each stop, the fear and stigma of Ebola leads to what players say is demeaning and discouraging treatment.
The Seychelles forfeited a match in July rather than host Sierra Leone, but did not notify the visiting team until it was set to board a connecting flight in Nairobi, Kenya. Last month, while playing a designated “home” game in the group stage in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone was mocked with chants of “Ebola, Ebola” from beginning to end in a 2-0 defeat.
The same derisive chants greeted the Leone Stars as they took the field Saturday in a 0-0 tie against Cameroon, then subsided until late in the game, another “home” match for the team, played more than 1,500 miles from their West African nation.