Before the unveiling of the African Cup of Nations, Eto'o, president of the Cameroon Football Association and former "cheetah", confidently said that "African football will shine like never before". However, reality soon gave him a resounding slap in the face.
In Mali's match against Tunisia, referee Skazevi blew the final whistle twice in the 85th and 89th minutes, and a series of operations after the Tunisian Football Association and the Non-FA made the farce more intense.
Where did the 6-minute stoppage time go?
Let's first return to wednesday's group stage, where Tunisia, as the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations champions, faced Mali, the main opponent at the top of the group stage, in its first match.
In the 49th minute of the match, Mali won a penalty, Ibrahima won the penalty, and Mali took a 1-0 lead. In the 73rd minute, the referee awarded Tunisia a penalty after looking back at the slow motion, but Hadley's penalty was saved.
A surprising scene occurred in the 85th minute when referee Skazevi suddenly blew the end of the game whistle. After being reminded by Tunisian coaches, players and fourth officials, Skazevi realized he had made a mistake and the game was resumed. In the 86th minute, Malian player Toure deliberately trampled on his opponent and was sent off with a red card.
However, by the 89th minute and 47 seconds, Skazevi once again blew the end whistle. Although the Tunisian general reminded Skazevi again, the referee was resolute and the game ended.
To the tunisian dissatisfaction, the video assistant referee intervened in the second half three times to decide penalties, plus replenishment time and 9 substitutions, the game should be at least 6 minutes of stoppage time. Skazevi blew the closing whistle in the 90th minute, meaning the game was 6 minutes shorter.
Why did Tunisia refuse to play?
The final whistle was blown twice in advance, and the African Cup of Nations group stage has become a farce. However, this farce has only just begun.
35 minutes after the game, he was interrupted when Mali boss Magasuba attended a press conference. The NFA announced that the match would start again, however, surprisingly, when the Malian players appeared on the pitch, the Tunisian players did not show up.
In the end, the previous fourth official blew the final whistle for the third time. Malian defender Haidara said: "We won, but it's sad to happen like this. Our victories are not stolen, we want to win with honor. ”
Why don't you want to finish the game? Tunisian boss Kebayr said, "By the time the players were recalled onto the pitch, they had been soaking in the ice bath for 35 minutes. ”
Tunisian striker Hazli revealed, "Some of the players took a shower, others took a bath in the ice because we played a game every four days. Everyone was separated and no one told me that the game would resume. ”
After Tunisia refused to resume matches, the Non-FA announced a 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the match between Mali and Mali. However, according to the rules, Tunisia, which refused to participate in the game, should be sentenced to a 0-3 defeat.
Angry Tunisians
After the farce, Tunisian assistant coach Kadri blasted the referee, "Unfortunately, we shouldn't see something like this in a high-level tournament like the Africa Cup of Nations. African football cannot move forward like this. The referee was confused today, he was hesitant to even look at slow motion, and he didn't even know how to look at slow motion. ”
"In the 85th minute, we knew nothing and we were very shocked. We talked to the fourth officer and he said there was a misunderstanding between him and the referee and they didn't communicate well. ”
"By the 90th minute, we went to the fourth officer and he agreed that the game wasn't over yet. We complained that the referee blew the whistle a second time early and the fourth officer said at first that the game would resume, but when he walked up to the referee, the latter said 'No, I blew the whistle and the game was over.' ’”
Kebayr also angrily said at the press conference, "In the 85th minute, he blew the end whistle, and in the 89th minute he blew the whistle again." There should have been 7 to 8 minutes of stoppage time, and his decision was inexplicable. ”
"I've been coaching for almost 30 years and have never seen anything like it. When the fourth officer was about to raise the stoppage time sign, the referee whistled. ”
The referee suffered from heat stroke?
Why did Skazevi make such an outrageous mistake? Non-FA referee chief Fatah revealed in an interview that "the referee suffered from heat stroke and was severely dehydrated, which affected his judgment during the game." After the game, he needed to go to the hospital because it was too hot. ”
"This led him to make a wrong judgment in the 80th minute and blew the closing whistle in the 85th minute, and after getting a reminder he returned to the pitch and then ended the game again in the 89th minute."
"When the crisis came, it was the fourth officer who had to go back to the game, not Skazevi, but one of the two teams refused."
Indeed, the temperature on the day of the race was as high as 34 degrees, and the humidity reached 65%. Hazli revealed, "We felt like the referee was dizzy and his choices and decisions were not very consistent. He felt hot and we had a headache too, and so did the Malians, but that doesn't mean we wanted to end the game early. ”
The media speculated that Skazevi had mistaken the time, believing that it had been 5 minutes of stoppage time, so the end whistle was blown for the first time in the 85th minute.
However, some media believe that Skazevi did it intentionally. Skazevi is one of the elite referees of the Non-FA, having played two group matches at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the final of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, which is his fifth referee at the Africa Cup of Nations.
However, he is also a scandal-ridden referee. In 2018, Skazevi was suspended from refereeing by the Non-FA Disciplinary Committee for allegedly manipulating matches in the African Champions League. At the time, he played Agosto in Esperance, awarded a goal that refused to be disputed, and later blew the penalty for Agosto's goal.
Eat a dumb loss?
After this farce, the Tunisian Football Association officially complained to the Non-FA and asked for a rematch. However, after thursday's meeting, the NFC rejected the complaint from the Tunisian Football Federation, concluding that Mali won 1-0, much to the displeasure of the Tunisians.
Meanwhile, the NFA announced on Thursday that it was continuing to investigate why Skazevi whistled in advance, "The NFA is collecting all the necessary reports." At this time, the non-FOOTBALL Federation is unable to make further comments. ”
Yenaya, an official of the Tunisian Football Association, said: "We will do everything we can to defend the rights of the national team, we are not children. However, a spokesman for the Tunisian Football Association did not disclose details of the complaint.
The NFA decided that Mali won 1-0, which means that the farce is temporarily over, but it means that this African Cup of Nations will go down in history forever with this scandal.