Johannesburg – The controversial Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe’s embarrassing move to blow the final whistle before the end of normal time has landed him in hot waters.
This follows the hard-hitting Group F encounter between Tunisia and Mali, where Sikazwe raised tempers for his poor officiating of the match during the ongoing African Cup of Nations tournament (Afcon).
Football fans had to witness a strange occasion in the 85th minute of the encounter.
Following this hilarious moment, technical staffers in Tunisia had to invade the pitch as they called for the referee to re-play the match.
Just after tempers cooled down, in space of 4 minutes since the match was ordered to be re-played, the referee once again declared the match over at the 89th minute.
The match bored Zambian referee Sukazwe and he tried to end it 5 minutes before full-time. pic.twitter.com/vSFa4kCfSh
— Pro Philani (@prophilani) January 12, 2022
The Tunisian staffers protested the call, saying the match has not lapsed into the injury time, and that he did not add extra minutes that the game should have at least seen 5 or 6 minutes of added time.
However, the referee snubbed the Tunisian team’s objection and ordered his counterparts to leave the pitch thus announcing Mali’s victory over Tunisia 1-0.
FULL-TIME #TeamTunisia 0-1 #TeamMali
Ibrahima Kone gifts Mali their first three points in the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 👏#AFCON2021 | #TUNMLI pic.twitter.com/yktQCTWPZ6
— #BSAFCON2022 (@CAF_Online) January 12, 2022
Calls have been launched to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and its advisory body to attend to this matter soonest.
CAF has since addressed it will escalate this matter and will advise on action that will be taken against Sikazwe.
The match ended in a 1-0, and Mali climbed to the second position of Group F, just behind Gambia, while Tunisia occupied the fourth position.
In today’s fixtures:
Having beaten Burkina Faso 2-1 in Sunday’s opener, the hosts, Cameroon will face Ethiopia at 15:00.
While Cape Verde will look to climb the first position of the table as they face struggling, Burkina Faso at 17:00.
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