Senegal coach Pape Thiaw has “apologised to football” for ordering his team off the field in last night’s chaotic AFCON final, an action his Morocco counterpart Walid Regragui described as “not honouring Africa”.
Senegal eventually prevailed in extra-time thanks to Pape Gueye’s stunning effort but the main talking point in what had been a largely drab game up to that point came towards the end of the initial 90 minutes.
Not long after referee Jean Jacques Ndala had disallowed a Senegal goal for a seemingly innocuous challenge by Abdoulaye Seck on Achraf Hakimi, he was then ordered by the VAR to go to the pitchside monitor and examine a pull from El Hadji Malick Diouf on Brahim Diaz inside the area.
Again, the contact appeared minimal but he pointed to the spot, sparking fury from the Senegalese players and their small band of travelling supporters, some of whom fought with security staff as they tried to get on to the field.
Thiaw was clearly seen waving his arm in an instruction for his players to leave the field.
Only Sadio Mane remained and the Al-Nassr was visibly angry at what was going on.
After a delay of around 17 minutes, the Senegal players returned and Diaz lined up the penalty only to attempt a Panenka and chip the spot-kick straight into the arms of Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Ndala then blew the final whistle.
“I think a lot of time passed before [Brahim] was able to take the penalty, and this put him off,” Regragui said. “The match we had was shameful for Africa.
“When a head coach asks his players to leave the pitch…he needs to stay classy, in victory as well as in defeat.
“What Pape [Thiaw] did tonight doesn’t honour Africa. He’s an African champion now, so he can say what he wants, but they stopped the match for over 10 minutes.
“That doesn’t excuse Brahim for the way he hit [the penalty], he hit it like that and we have to own it. We need to look forward now, and accept that Brahim missed it.”
Senegal coach Thiaw says sorry
Thiaw’s official post-match news conference was cancelled after confrontations between Moroccan and Senegalese journalists in the press room, but he did apologise for his actions in an interview on beIN Sport.
We didn’t agree,” he said. “I don’t want to go over all the incidents. I apologise to football.
“After reflecting on it I made them come back [on the pitch] – you can react in the heat of the moment. We accept the errors of the referee.
“We shouldn’t have done it but it’s done and now we present our apologies to football.”
Mane the hero
There have been claims of bias towards hosts Morocco throughout the event but Mane, who was later named the player of the tournament, was able to look at the bigger picture and was widely praised for his determination to see the game resume.
He said: “Football is something special, the world was watching, so we have to give a good image for football.
“I think it would be crazy to not play this game because what, the referee gave a penalty and we go out of the game? I think that would be the worst thing especially in African football. I’d rather lose than this kind of thing happen to our football.
“I think it’s really bad. Football should not stop for 10 minutes but what can we do? We have to accept what we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened happened.”
Meanwhile, The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) have condemned the unacceptable behaviour of some players and officials, saying: “CAF strongly condemns any inappropriate behaviour which occurs during matches, especially those targeting the refereeing team or match organizers.
“CAF is reviewing all footage and will refer the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action to be taken against those found guilty.”
