A technical failure, the cancellation of a charter flight and late player withdrawals disrupted Burkina Faso’s journey to Buenos Aires for their friendly against Argentina, organiser Jairo Pachon has said.
In a statement issued just hours before the match, the FIFA agent said the Federation burkinabe de football (FBF) and the Asociacion del Futbol Argentino (AFA) had both met their contractual responsibilities.
Pachon also praised the involvement of the authorities in Burkina Faso and Argentina, who he said worked to ensure the Etalons could still take part in the fixture.
The main travel problem occurred on 30 September, when the Burkina Faso delegation was at Casablanca airport. A technical fault was detected on the aircraft scheduled to operate their charter flight to Argentina, leading to the cancellation of the journey.
The operator subsequently cancelled both the flight and the contract, citing force majeure.
The delegation then faced further disruption after several players who had originally been called up decided not to travel. Their withdrawals were linked in particular to accumulated fatigue.
Discussions were held with the FBF and Burkina Faso’s authorities, but some of the players maintained their decision to remain behind. Replacements were therefore called up urgently from Burkina Faso and travelled to Casablanca to join the rest of the squad before continuing on to Buenos Aires for the match.