All this for a cramp. Already marked by a VAR breakdown of around fifteen minutes to the hour of play, the African Cup of Nations match between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin, this Tuesday, offered the public another surprising scene in the final moments. As the match goes into added time, Congolese midfielder Samuel Moutoussamy remains on the ground and complains of cramps.
South African referee Abongile Tom therefore calls the trainers and invites the stretcher bearers to remove the former FC Nantes player from the field. But after a few meters on the stretcher, the native of Paris suddenly got back on his two legs, trotting as if nothing had happened along the sidelines before asking to come into play.
“I told the referee I just had a calf cramp. I was going to drink a small bottle of water and then I was going to return to the field, so no need for the stretcher. He told me: Yes, yes, you have to get on the stretcher, otherwise I’ll give you a yellow card. I already had a yellow one, so I didn’t think too much about it. This is probably a small point about the regulations that I certainly don’t know. But there you go, I didn’t need a stretcher at all. I got on it because the referee asked me to,” said Samuel Moutoussamy in the mixed zone after the match won by his team (1-0).
The laws of the game do not require a stretcher
A tip to save time? Hard to believe, given that his team was outnumbered in his absence, due to a lack of change at his disposal. “It wasn’t to save time, I was ready to leave straight away,” he defended himself.
The IFAB Laws of the Game clearly state that a referee must sanction a player with a yellow card “for unsportsmanlike behavior if he fails to comply with the instruction to leave the field for treatment (whether by walking or on a stretcher) after the referee has authorized doctors and/or stretcher bearers to enter the field.”
Samuel Moutoussamy, although he risked expulsion, could very well have gotten out on his own two legs, without going through the stretcher.
