Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared Monday a public holiday after the national team dominated the Africa Cup of Nations, beating hosts Morocco 1-0 in a wild final.
After the match, the Moroccan Prince Mulan Rashid turned aside to hand over the trophy to the Senegalese footballers. It wasn’t the end he imagined.
Not to mention the embarrassment both finalists caused themselves. “The image of African football that we offered was disgraceful,” assessed the coach of the Moroccan team, Walid Regragui.
The biggest uproar was caused by the departure of the Senegalese team from the playing field.
VIDEO: The Moroccan Prince did not want to hand over the trophy to the Senegalese footballers
Referees must resist political pressure
When the head referee pointed to the white spot at the end of the match after watching the video and blew the whistle for a penalty for Morocco, Pape Thiaw, the coach of Senegal, ordered his players to go to the dressing room.
It stemmed from frustration when their (regular) goal was disallowed minutes earlier while Morocco had a penalty kick available.
“The positions of referees must be filled by competent and independent people who have the courage and ethics to withstand pressure from even the continent’s most powerful politicians,” wrote Osasu Obayiuwana for The Guardian.
Several countries in the tournament complained about the referees. They were said to be on the side of Morocco.
“The referees were pathetic,” Nigeria international Bright Osayi-Samuel described their performance after the semi-final loss to Morocco, adding: “We work hard to represent our country, but when the decisions on the pitch are not fair, they ruin football.”
We felt guilty, claimed the man of the match
After the penalty whistle at the end of the final match with Morocco, the Senegalese fans started throwing everything they had on the field. The entire spectacle lasted less than twenty minutes before the Senegalese players stopped sulking and decided to return to the pitch.
VIDEO: At 1:50 p.m., Senegal’s football players start to leave the pitch.
According to The Athletic’s Jay Harris, Senegal’s El Hadji Malick Diouf was then expected to kick the penalty spot on the turf while his teammates tried to verbally distract penalty taker Brahim Díaz, which they apparently succeeded in doing.
Díaz decided to imitate Antonín Panenka, while Senegal goalkeeper Edourad Mendy stayed in the middle and easily saved the penalty.
“We saw what happened at the end of the game, but we decided to go back on the pitch and give it everything,” said Senegal international and man of the match Idrissa Gueye. “We felt wronged and frustrated. Sadio Mané told us to come back and find the strength to fight,” he added.
Moroccans focused mainly on the towel
The president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, described the Senegalese protests as “unacceptable scenes”, while praising Morocco for organizing the tournament.
The host country received a fair play award from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), as Moroccan footballers saw fewer yellow cards than Senegalese footballers at the championship.
However, looking at what was happening at the Senegal goal, it was a travesty.
During the meeting, it happened several times that the Moroccan ball handlers stole a towel from the Senegalese goalkeeper Mendy in the rainy weather. They were joined by star Achraf Hakimi, who picked up the towel and threw it behind the advertising banners.
Yehvann Diouf, the substitute goalkeeper of Senegal, became the star of social networks, who stood up to Mendy’s goal and defended his towel with his own body.
Even in front of the Moroccan footballer Ismael Saibari, who did not want to allow him to pass it to his fellow goalkeeper. At one point, Diouf was even knocked to the turf by the servers during the game.
A final that will be talked about for a long time
The wild behavior continued at the post-match press conference, where Moroccan journalists harshly attacked coach Walid Regragui.
Some asked him several times whether he would resign on the spot. The coach answered them in exasperation, especially when one reporter accused him of being responsible for the crying of Moroccan children in the stands.
“Regragui did not get the cup as promised,” wrote the Moroccan newspaper Le Matin.
When Senegalese coach Pape Thiaw later arrived at the post-match press conference, the Moroccan journalists got up and left. Some of them started a conflict with their Senegalese colleagues.
“We saw a final that will be discussed for years to come – but not for positive reasons,” The Athletic reviewed the match.
