A REMARKABLE moment in the Africa Cup of Nations happened on Wednesday. Mali and Tunisia had their game ended in abrupt circumstances, when the referee blew for full-time on two occasions before the 90th minute, the game did not restart following the latter whistle.
Ibrahima Kone gave Mali a 1-0 lead with a penalty. The Tunisians got their own spot kick, but missed the chance to level it up.
Shortly after the referee Janny Sikazwe ended the contest on 85 minutes, but started the game again due to protests from Tunisian players and staff.
Carthage Eagles coach Mondher Kebaier and his technical staff rushed onto the field to confront referee Janny Sikazwe after he ended the game a minute early.
Mali's El Bilal Toure was given a red card with a VAR check, while both spot-kicks were under the VAR spotlight.
SCENES!! 🤯🤯
The referee blows the whistle before the 90 minutes are up...
VAR checks, two penalties and a red card... no stoppage time?!
It ends Tunisia 0-1 Mali 👀 pic.twitter.com/tPoiw7ZNGX— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 12, 2022
The half also included a cooling break, so the obvious thing to do would be to add more minutes in extra time. The fourth official had his board in hand with 20 seconds of normal time remaining.
Sikazwe, however, ended the game before the clock reached 90 minutes and brushed aside Tunisian frustration.
He was escorted off the pitch by security officials in bizarre scenes at the end of the game in Cameroon.
The match was restarted even though Mali were undergoing their post-match press conference.
Mali came back on the pitch, but Tunisia did not show and the referee once again declared the match to be over on an embarrassing day for the competition
Tunisia v Mali
- VAR review for a penalty, given (pen missed)
- Ref blows for full-time on 85 minutes
- Play does restart
- Player sent off
- VAR tells the ref it's not a red
- Ref rejects the red review (it was never a red card)
- Ref blows for full time on 89.40
Chaos!— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) January 12, 2022
