Camacho backs Aubameyang oranje juice claims

Camacho has spoken on the strange events.

Gabon coach Jose Antonio Camacho has backed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s claim that the whole team, players and coaches, were affected by dodgy orange juice on the morning of their crucial World Cup qualifier with Morocco.

After Gabon lost the game 3-0, Aubameyang complained in a tweet that the orange juice at breakfast caused stomach problems on the morning of the matchup.

The loss in Casablanca ended Gabon’s hopes of qualifying for football’s showpiece event in Russia, and Camacho has now had his say on the events:

“I also was affected,” Camacho told ‘Cadena Ser’. “We believe it was the orange juice because those that did not have it were fine. I just had a sip so I didn’t have a lot but I still spent the morning of the game going from my bed to the toilet.

“I was the least affected but it left you tired. Half of my team and staff had stomach pains and diarrhoea throughout the day of the game. They had to constantly go to the toilet. It’s strange that this happened the day of the game but that’s the reality.”

Camacho also mentioned his players had warned him such a problem could occur after having the same issue at the African Nations Cup.

“The issue of food was just very strange,” he said. “You feel perplexed that nowadays this can happen. My players had already warned me to expect something like this.

“I was told by them that they had had a similar situation in the African Nations Cup. They said that we had to be wary, they didn’t trust anything. Some players wouldn’t eat at the hotel.

“We went to eat outside the hotel at 1 p.m. in a restaurant and then hid in a hotel bedroom to have tea at 5p.m. This disrupts your schedule, the team’s rest. These are things that affect you when you are playing such an important game. It should not happen in professional football.”