January 14, (THEWILL) -On Thursday, the Confederation of African Football’s Organising Committee of the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) met to deliberate on Tunisia’s protest of the incidents that occurred during their January 12 match against Mali.
As THEWILL reported, refereeing decisions that included contentious penalty kicks for each side, ending the match in the 85th minute, a harsh red card against a Malian player when play resumed for the remaining four-plus minutes and once again ending the match with about 10 seconds left without regard for due extra time, were causes for concern about the mishandling of the game management.
Tunisia immediately lodged a complaint, protesting the officiating and demanding that measures be taken to address their grievances about the fixture which they lost 1-0.
Although a post-match report indicated that the referee at the centre of the controversy, Zambian official Janny Sikazwe, was taken to the hospital after the game where it was discovered that he had suffered heat stroke and dehydration, CAF gave notice on Thursday that the match report and Tunisia’s complaints had been handed over to the “competent body” for appropriate investigation.
It has now been determined that the protest by the Tunisians will be dismissed and the result, 1-0 in favour of Mali, will stand as currently is the case. This was contained in a brief release by CAF which read:
“After examining the protest of Tunisia and all the match officials report, the Organising
Committee decided the following:
“To dismiss the protest lodged by the Tunisian team.
“To homologate the match result as 1-0 in favour of Mali.”
There were no details as to how the Organising Committee arrived at its decision or what, if any, decision was taken regarding the embarrassing refereeing that brought about the protest from the Tunisians in the first instance.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
