Today’s game between Tunisia and Mali witnessed a weird and embarrassing incident, with Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe mistakenly blowing the final whistle at minute 85, 5 minutes before the end of normal time. With objections from Tunisia’s staff, the referee decided to play again.
Only after 4 minutes played, the referee once again declared the match over at the 89th minute, a minute before normal time. The Tunisian furiously protested once again, rightly pointing out that not only was normal time not over, but that the game should have at least seen 5 or 6 minutes of added time.
But this time, the referee did not take the Tunisian team’s objection into consideration, and neither assistants nor the VAR did interfere in changing his decision. The referees and the two teams left the field, thus announcing Mali’s victory over Tunisia 1-0.
Mali coach Mohamed Magassouba’s post-match press conference was halted by Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials 20 minutes after the final whistle.
Following almost thirty minutes of heated debate off the pitch, the CAF representatives asked the two teams to re-enter the pitch to play the remaining minutes. Tunisia refused this time, however, understandably appearing to suggest there no longer was a point in resuming the game for just three or five minutes.
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During the game, handball was also the subject of contention as both teams won slightly controversial penalties. When the final whistle was blown for the first, second, and third times, Mali had a 1-0 lead thanks to Ibrahima Kone’s penalty kick at the beginning of the second half.
