The Chaos Of The Tunisia Vs Mali Match Because The Referee Blew The Long Whistle 3 Times

JAKARTA - Chaos occurred in the first match of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Group F elimination round which brought together Tunisia and Mali. The chaos occurred due to the act of referee Janny Sikazwe who was considered incompetent.

Sikazwe ended the game prematurely. He was even caught three times blowing the long whistle on the pitch when the game was not finished 90 minutes.

In the meeting of the two teams which took place at the Limbe Omnisport Stadium on Wednesday, January 12, Mali managed to secure a 1-0 victory. The single goal was contributed by Ibrahima Kone in the 48th minute of the penalty execution.

Even so, this match was actually tarnished because of the actions of the referee who was considered to have issued a lot of strange decisions that were more detrimental to Tunisia.

Sikazwe blew the first long whistle in 85 minutes. However, the man who had served as a referee at the 2018 World Cup again started the match after this strange incident.

Not only that, Sikazwe then blew the second long whistle about 20 seconds before the match was even 90 minutes or without injury time. After a few minutes, African Football Federation (CAF) officials decided to resume the game to spend some injury time.

In that second moment, the Tunisian squad chose not to leave the field. It made Sikazwe blow the long whistle again for the third time.

Seeing Sikazwe's behavior, the Tunisian coach, Mondher Kebaier was annoyed and looked angry on the sidelines. Kabaier even came to Sikazwe after blowing the second long whistle and pointed at his watch.

Kebaier also protested several linesman decisions which were considered detrimental to Tunisia.

Because the referee's decision clearly harmed Tunisia, Sikazwe and two officials had to be escorted by security forces when they left the field. This was done to dispel strong protests from the Tunisian camp.

Kebaier explained the reason Tunisia did not come to the field to resume the match for the third time. He felt that the pause he had taken had been too long.

"The players had an ice bath for 35 minutes before the officials called us to return to the field. I've been coaching for quite a while. But, I've never seen anything like this," said Kebaier.

"Even the fourth official was preparing to lift the board (to show how many minutes of injury time). But then the long whistle was blown again," he continued, quoted by Reuters.

Apart from the Tunisian side's irritation at the referee's strange decision, it was later discovered that this chaos was triggered by Sikazwe forgetting to stop the clock during a five-minute water break. That actually allowed the referee to guess four minutes and 40 seconds before blowing the second long whistle was injury time.