Mali picked up a 1-0 win over Tunisia in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) yesterday, but the game was marred with controversies and officiating blunders.
Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe was subject to widespread criticism from the players, staff as well as fans on social media for his performance in a vital game.
The Zambian referee made his first mistake on the 85th minute when he sounded out the final whistle to leave the spectators and players bewildered.
After consulting with his assistants, the referee decided that play should resume so that the legitimate 90 minutes could be completed.
As soon as the game restarted, Mali striker El Bilal Toure was sent off for a rough challenge, and the referee was recommended by VAR to look at the replays of the incident. However, Sikazwe chose to stick with his initial decision.
Sikazwe shocked the players once again when he blew the full-time whistle again before the standard 90 minutes, and chaos ensued on and off the pitch.
According to the Athletic, Tunisia submitted an official complaint regarding the referee after the game, and CAF proposed that the two sides should return to the pitch once again and play the remainder of the contest.
While the Malians did return to the pitch, the Tunisia team failed to reappear, and the referee blew the final whistle for the third time as well.
Apart from the fact that the entirety of the match was not played when the whistle for the full time was blown, the Tunisian team complained of the lack of injury time as well.
Jenny Sikazwe consulted the VAR four times in the second half, and the two teams made a combined nine second-half substitutions, which should have resulted in significant stoppage time.
It will be interesting to see how the CAF deal with the situation now.
Apparently, Tunisia want to replay the whole match on another date, and it will be interesting to see how the situation is sorted over the next few days.