AFCON committee dismisses Tunisia protest over Mali win

The result of the controversial Match No 11 of the ongoing Cameroon 2021 stays at Tunisia 0, Mali 1.

That is the verdict of the Organising Committee of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Following Tunisia's protest of the Group F game that was abruptly ended by centre referee Janny Sikazwe on Wednesday, which had ended one-nil in favour of Mali, the committee reviewed the situation late Thursday and dismissed the petition. 

The result of that Matchday 1 fixture placed the Les Aigles as joint leaders of Group F together with fellow West Africans, Gambia. 

“After examining the protest of Tunisia and all the match officials’ reports, the committee decided to dismiss the protest lodged by the Tunisian team.

”It also decided that the match result will stand as 1-0 in favour of Mali", CAF said in a short statement late Thursday.

Sikazwe, from Zambia, had stirred controversy during the match with some inexplicable decisions.

Twice, he ended the match before the stipulated time, leading to rowdy scenes after the game.

Reports say Sikazwe had suffered from "heat stroke and severe dehydration", and was taken to the hospital after calling off the match twice before the regulation time.

AFCON referees' chief, Essam Abdel-Fatah was said to have insisted that Sikazwe suffered from the effects of the 34-degree heat level and 65 per cent humidity in Limbe, Cameroon. 

He told MBC Egypt that "the referee suffered from heat stroke and very severe dehydration, which led to him losing focus and was taken to the hospital.

"It caused him to lose time in the 80th minute, and he ended the match in the 85th minute. He returned after directions from the assistant staff and then returned to finish the match in the 89th minute.

‘When the crisis occurred and the objections and control were lost in the match, the fourth referee was the one who was going to complete the match (instead of Sikazwe), but one of the two teams refused".

Tunisia didn't come out the second time the teams were asked to continue the match, which was around 35 minutes after Sikazwe ended it.

The Tunisians were already recovering in ice baths, manager Mondher Kebaier later said. 

Forty-two-year-old Sikazwe was the centre referee in the Belgium v Panama Group G match of the FIFA World Cup in Russia on 18th June 2018.

The match, which Belgium won 3-0 at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi with Romelu Lukaku scoring a brace in the second half, launched Sikazwe into the record books as the first Zambian to officiate at the FIFA World Cup finals.

Ten days later, Sikazwe took centre stage at the Volgograd Arena in Volgograd where Poland gained their first points by beating Japan 1-0 in a Group H fixture as they bowed out of the competition.

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