Protest probably thrown down – “Our brothers were robbed” – Tunisia foams after referee scandal

The football world has never seen anything like it. In the match between Tunisia and Mali (0: 1) at the Africa Cup, referee Janny Sikazwe whistled twice too early, causing a tangible scandal. At the behest of the African federation, the game was to be continued for three minutes when the Malian coach Mohamed Magassouba was already at the press conference. Mali’s players then returned to the field, but the Tunisians did not, because they were already in the regeneration program at that time. That left Mali with a narrow 1-0 win.

“First the referee asks us to go to the locker room, then the players have been in an ice bath for 35 minutes and then they ask us to come back on the field? I’ve never seen anything like it in professional football in 30 years, “says the sour Tunisia coach Mondher Kebaier after the scandal game and continues:” I can’t understand how he made this decision. We will now see what happens next. “

Hussein Jenayah, the director of the Tunisian association, contradicted his coach on the point that the players were asked to restart the game: “Nobody asked us to restart the game,” Jenayah announced to the journalists present in the southwestern city of Cameroon. Limbe.

African media reported on Wednesday evening that the Tunisian Football Association had already protested against the rating of the game. Because: Apparently a passage in the rules of the tournament says the following: “A game that was finally abandoned before its end must be repeated, unless the competition rules provide otherwise.”

BeinSports then reported on Wednesday evening that the Tunisians’ protest was thrown off and that after the defeat on the green carpet they for their part now have to fear sanctions from the African Football Association. What exactly the kickers and officials from the Maghreb state are accused of is still unclear.

The Tunisian substitutes should have had a training session in the stadium after the game, but that never happened. As the Tunisian radio “Radio Mosaïque FM” reported, the planned training session is said to have been canceled at the request of the Cameroonian security after terrorist threats.

It remains to be seen whether this was really about terror or whether the organizers dropped the training due to the heated atmosphere surrounding the referee’s decisions.

It has not yet been clarified what was going on with Janny Sikazwe. Apparently it should have been noted on the score sheet that the referee was “sick”.

The Tunisian players and fans in particular are much more likely to suspect a bribery scandal, because the Zambian referee was temporarily suspended in 2018 on suspicion of corruption after leading the game between Tunisia’s top club Esperance Tunis and Primeiro de Agosto from Angola in the African Champions League. The suspension was ultimately lifted due to a lack of evidence. In 2018, Sikazwe also directed two games at the World Cup in Russia.

The referee scandal in Mali against Tunisia is also making waves on social media. Many German football fans immediately thought of the Ahlenfelder case during the turbulent Africa Cup match. In November 1975, referee Wolf-Dieter Ahlenfelder caused a curiosity in the Bundesliga match between Werder Bremen and Hanover 96 when, under the influence of alcohol, he whistled off the first half after 32 minutes, then let it continue and finally 90 seconds before the end of the game regular playing time finally whistled at halftime.

An African Twitter user was ashamed of the scenery in Limbe and addressed Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o, who is now president of his country’s football association, directly: “That is one of the reasons why no one respects Africa, because our Tunisian brothers are robbed. They always make good comments. I ask you to solve this problem. ”

A Tunisian supporter completely lost his interest in the Africa Cup after the grotesque start to the tournament. The fan wrote in a tweet: “Instead of the President of the Tunisian Association, I would take the players with me and immediately return to Tunis and release the players to their clubs.”