Eritrea, a return to AFCON, and the footballers who escaped one of the world’s most dangerous countries
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“‘We see potential spies and enemies everywhere,’ says David. ‘It can be at border control or it can be in a cafe. The other day, a guy was looking at me strangely, so I left without finishing my breakfast, and jumped in a taxi — asking the driver to take me to the wrong address.’ David is an Eritrean footballer, a refugee who — when we speak in late 2023 — thinks government agents are still watching him even though he fled the country a long time ago and is now thousands of miles away. Though he has claimed asylum abroad, his fears mean he often sleeps with a chair pressed against the door of his bedroom. Sometimes he will have nightmares about a group of men armed with weapons bursting in and taking him away. …”
NY Times/The Athletic