"During our participation in the FIFA Congress, we asked to meet with FIFA President Infantino and African Football Federation President Mocepe. We demanded that the result of the match must be voided, that there must be a replay, because a lot of things happened before and after the game, and we have evidence of it..." This is what the president of the Egyptian Football Association, Alam, said in an interview with the media on March 31.
The Egyptian Football Association has formally appealed to FIFA, asking FIFA to declare the result of the second leg of the World Cup play-offs Senegal against Egypt null and void and that the two sides should choose a day to replay.
In the final stage of the Qatar World Cup in Africa, there were two fights in two, and a total of 5 places were decided. Senegal and Egypt were separated, and in the first leg of the meeting, Egypt won 1-0 to seize the lead.
The second leg was played at the home of Senegal, and just four minutes into the opening, Senegal scored to equalize, but in the next 116 minutes, the two teams did not succeed, and the game entered a penalty shootout.
The first Egyptian to take the penalty was Salah, and the laser pointers of the fans at the scene were all aimed at Salah's face, especially the eyes, and Salah "transformed" into the Hulk, and his penalty was lost.
Every time an Egyptian player takes a penalty, he is hit by a laser pointer, and the Egyptian goalkeeper has become the main target of the fan laser pointer attack.
In the first four rounds of penalties, Egypt conceded three free throws, and with Mane's fifth free throw, Senegal eliminated Egypt 4-2 to enter the World Cup.
As for the reasons for the request for a replay, Egyptian Football Association President Alam said: "If we lose under normal circumstances, we will congratulate Senegal, we have no complaints, but the laser pointers of Senegalese fans have seriously affected the eyes of Egyptian players, and the eyes of our players have been hurt, especially in the stage of taking penalties!" ”
Alam believes that the laser pointer in the stands is the main reason why the Egyptian players have made one penalty on penalties: "FIFA and FIFA must intervene and must support our replay requirements!" ”
The Egyptian Football Association listed five violations in Senegal in its statement, including the destruction of the Egyptian team's bus by Senegalese fans, the attack of Egyptian players by stones by home fans during the pre-match warm-up, and the hanging of racist slogans in the stands to insult Salah and other players during the match.
When he exited at the end of the match, Salah was attacked by a water bottle. After the game, when the Egyptian players left in the bus, they were surrounded, insulted and attacked by the fans of the home team.
Among them, FIFA has clear regulations that when fans enter, the home team should fulfill the responsibility of safety inspection to ensure that items that affect and distract players and referees such as laser pointers are not brought into the stadium by fans. In addition, once a fan is found to be using a laser pointer to influence a player during a match, the game should be suspended immediately.
From this point of view, not only did the Senegalese side violate the rules, but the referee on duty did not call off the game in time. At present, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has accepted the request of the Egyptian Football Association and formally intervened in the investigation.