Norwich City striker Dieumerci Mbokani has been dropped from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s squad for three matches while Yannick Bolasie was being given time off to get married.
Mbokani missed the last two African Nations Cup qualifiers for the country after being caught up in the Brussels airport bombing on March 22.
He was due to fly to Kinshasa for the first of the two matches against Angola but after the trauma of being just outside the airport departure hall when the explosions went off, decide to stay home. Mbokani was criticised by the Congolese football federation (Fecofa) president Constant Omari and has now been left out of a 31-man squad named on Thursday for friendlies against Romania and Egypt on May 25 and May 30, and a potentially decisive African Nations Cup qualifier away in Madagascar on June 5.
Bolasie, due to start for Crystal Palace in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United, has been given time off to get married, Fecofa said, while Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe is not included as he had yet to qualify to play for DR Congo. The former England under-21 international travelled to Kinshasa in March but could not debut because a switch in his nationality was yet to be cleared by FIFA.(Reuters)
