2023-12-12 05:23:10
Could this be attributed to the 35 degrees at the Omnisport Stadium in Limbé this Wednesday afternoon? Is this attributable to the harshness of this Tunisia-Mali? The fact remains that Mr. Janny Sikazwe, the Zambian referee of this Group F match, largely precipitated the game into chaos, by blowing the whistle for the end of the match too early, on two occasions.
Rather good throughout the game, Mr. Sikazwe first whistled the end around the 85th minute. Aware of his mistake, the official quickly caught himself and restarted the game. But it was only to send the players back to the locker room some four minutes later, before the actual end of time. And by robbing Tunisia, in search of a late equalizer – a penalty was missed by Khazri (77th) – of all added time, while this promised to be quite substantial, taking into account numerous changes and stoppages of game occurred in the second half.
The Zambian even took the 4th referee by surprise who had the sign in his hands to signify the additional time to be added.
Mr. Sikazwe’s double mistake cannot be put down to inexperience, since this is the 5th CAN over which this referee has officiated.
While the Malians gathered to thank the sky for having protected their lead until the end – decisive goal from a penalty by Ibrahima Koné (48th) – the referee was taken side by the entire Tunisian staff after the meeting. The Zambian had to be escorted by stewards to return to the locker room.
The Tunisians refuse to resume the match
After which, another twist of theater… While the matter seemed settled and the match folded in favor of Mali, it was decided that the meeting would resume for a few minutes, even as the Malian coach Mohamed Magassouba gave his impressions at a press conference!
The latter did not seem willing to resume but his players returned to the pitch. In the meantime, the 4th referee had replaced Mr. Sikazwe.
But ultimately, it was the Tunisians who refused to represent themselves on the ground. And for this they face a match lost 3-0 on the green carpet. At the time of VAR, on which he did not fail to rely throughout the game, Mr. Sikwaze has not finished hearing about this end of the match.
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