Badra Ali Sangare the goalkeeper of Cote D’Ivoire at the ongoing AFCON tournament in Cameroon, has taken to his social media handle to announce the death of his father, Sangare.
Badra Ali Sangare who posted a photo of his father on his social media handle to announce the sad news did not mention the cause of death.
He posted the photo with a caption that reads:
“I fell last night I got up this morning. It’s you who fell and you will never be able to get up again, May Allah accepts you by his side goodbye N’far Sangare,” he said.
A statement from CAF on its Twitter page extended the football body’s condolences to the Ivory Coast no.1.
“Our hearts go out to #TeamCotedIvoire goalkeeper Badra Ali Sangaré who lost his father earlier today. Stay strong,” the post read.
Badra Ali Sangare was on the goalpost when Ivory Coast took on Sierra Leone on Sunday, a game that ended in a 2-2 draw.
Badra Ali Sangare was forced off injured after conceding a bizarre goal deep into second-half stoppage time. Sangare mistakenly dropped the ball for the Ivorian’s opponents to equalise at the death at the Japoma Stadium in Cameroon.
There was only minutes left when Sangare came out to collect a ball headed back to him by his own defender.
The keeper had to dive to gather it however to prevent Ivory Coast from conceding a late corner.
But while diving, Sangare’s right knee seemed to dig into the dry turf and he flipped over and lost control of the ball, fumbling it goalwards to Steven Caulker.
Centre-back Caulker then squared across goal for Alhaji Kamara who was able to fire home from close range to make it 2-2
Sangare couldn’t bring himself to his feet due to his injury and watched on in anguish as Kamara scored.
The Ivorian shot-stopper was down on the pitch in discomfort for several minutes after his awkward collision with the pitch and eventually had to be stretchered off.
With all five substitutes having been made by Ivory Coast, captain and former Tottenham defender Serge Aurier stepped in goal for the final few moments of the match.
He was not required to make a save with Sierra Leone not having enough time to take advantage of their one-man advantage, the game ending 2-2.
The Leone Stars now have two points from two games after also surprising Algeria in their opening Group E match, while Les Elephants have four points after beating Equatorial Guinea on match-day one.