Morocco crowned AFCON champions
Morocco have been crowned Africa Cup of Nations winners after an unprecedented ruling overturned Senegal’s victory two months on from the final.
Senegal have been stripped of their title by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Appeal Board for leaving the pitch and it has been declared that they forfeited.
Tournament hosts Morocco are now considered 3-0 winners of the final, which took place on January 18, ending a 49-year wait for their second AFCON title.
Senegal triumphed 1-0 after extra-time after controversially exiting the field in protest after hosts Morocco were awarded a contentious stoppage-time penalty, delaying the game for 17 minutes.
Brahim Diaz missed from the spot, his panenka comfortably saved, when play eventually resumed after Sadio Mane convinced his team-mates to return and Senegal won the final thanks to Pape Gueye’s goal in extra-time.
CAF says Senegal infringed on article 82 of AFCON’s regulations, which states if a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the end of regulation time without the refereee’s authorisation, it will be considered the loser and eliminated from the competition.
Article 84 states any team that violates article 82 will be permanently eliminated and lose the match 3-0.
The west African nation plan to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which typically takes about a year to reach a verdict.
The Senegalese football federation’s secretary general called the decision a “shame for Africa” in an interview with public broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise.
The result is an outcome of an appeal made by Morocco’s football federation, which welcomed the verdict in an intial response.
Among the Senegal players to lose their champion status are former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane, Everton pair Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye, Chelsea’s Mamadou Sarr and his on-loan team-mate Nicolas Jackson, West Ham’s El Hadji Malick Diouf and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr.
Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, meanwhile, can savour a belated triumph alongside PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Real Madrid’s Diaz.
Some of Senegal’s Premier League stars mocked the ruling on social media on Tuesday night.
West Ham’s Diouf, Crystal Palace’s Sarr and Sunderland’s Habib Diarra all posted laughing emojis on their Instagram stories, as well as pictures of them with the AFCON trophy and celebrations.
Analysis: How many will accept this ‘extraordinary’ ruling?
Sky News sport correspondent Rob Harris:
“Senegal are now preparing to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sport in Switzerland. So for that, they have to get the appeal in, then you’d have to form a panel and assess what grounds they can appeal successfully on.
“As it stands now, Morocco lost the game 1-0 on the pitch, but the record books technically show they are 3-0 winners of that final, champions for the first time of Africa since the 70s.
“This is a tournament they were hosting, there was so much [build-up] on could they win it for the first time in about five decades. But how many will accept this?
“You’ve got Senegal still posting their celebrations. What will happen to the medals? Are they going to have to return the medals? Will they want to? What happens to the trophy?
“Think even beyond that. What if people had a bet on the game? I’ve been hearing from some of them. Well, if you had it in cash, it’d be hard for the bookies to take your cash back if you had it on Senegal.
“But if you had [a bet on] Morocco, you might want to get your winnings in now. So there are all sorts of ramifications for this widely.
“This is just completely extraordinary. You can’t really think of anything like it at this level. A continental final, the match finishing, sanctions being imposed already on it, the fines for so much that happened.
“But here we are, extraordinarily, 58 days later, forget that result we’re being told. Actually Morocco were the 3-0 winners over Senegal in the African Cup of Nations final.”
What happened in the AFCON final?
Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala pointed to the spot in stoppage-time of January’s final following a VAR check for Malick Diouf’s challenge on Brahim Diaz, which prompted Senegal boss Pape Thiaw, who was already unhappy with a late disallowed goal for his side, to send his players to the dressing room.
Former Liverpool winger Mane ordered his Senegal team-mates to return to the pitch, and when they did after a 17-minute delay, Morocco’s Diaz saw his Paneka penalty saved by Edouard Mendy, sending the final to extra-time.
Gueye then struck the winner for Senegal in extra-time but there was unrest in the crowd and recriminations in the aftermath.
A walk off, a panenka miss and a stunner! How the drama unfolded
90+2: Senegal have a goal disallowed.
90+8: Morocco win a controversial penalty in the final moments of stoppage time.
90+12: The Senegal players leave the pitch in protest
90+20: The Senegal players eventually return to field
90+24: Brahim Diaz sensationally tries a Panenka from the spot and Edouard Mendy saves it
Extra-time (94): Pape Gueye smashes Senegal in front with goal that eventually seals his side AFCON success.
What was said after?
After the game, Morocco head coach Walid Regragui said the image of Africa is “shameful” after Senegal boss Thiaw led his players off the pitch.
“The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful,” he said. “A coach who asks his players to leave the field…what Pape did does not honour Africa.
“Thiaw wasn’t classy. But he is a champion, so he can say whatever he wants. We stopped the match in the eyes of the world for 10 minutes.”
Thiaw said he regretted taking his players off the pitch.
“I don’t want to go over all the incidents. I apologise for the football,” he told BeIN Sports.
“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.”
The Confederation of African Football said they condemned the “unacceptable behaviour of some players and officials” during the final.
Meanwhile, Mane, who played a key role in the Senegal players coming back onto the pitch to finish the match, added: “It would have been really a shame and sad to see this kind of thing, this kind of scenario happen. Imagine, just imagine for a second, going into the locker rooms and the football match stopped there. I think that would convey a negative image of our football; I think Africa today does not deserve that.
“African football has evolved in an incredible way and the proof is that it is followed all over the world. So, on my side, I did what I had to do, after I think we also had a bit of luck to have a goalkeeper like Edouard Mendy, who saved us once again, so, I think otherwise overall in the match, Senegal deserved to win.”
Senegal midfielder Lamine Camara revealed the role Mane played in restarting the match.
“We knew that today it was important to win this trophy, we were all determined to win it thanks to Sadio and we saw what he did today, it is just incredible,” he said.
“Well, we were in the dressing rooms, I was thinking of going with the 10 others, I think it was only him (Mane) who came in shouting, shouting at us to get out and go finish the match, so at the end he was right, we went out, we listened to him because when Sadio speaks everyone listens, we listened to him and finally it went well for us.” – Sky Sports
