Senegal football chief says host Morocco performed poorly at AFCON

Senegal football chief says host Morocco performed poorly at AFCON
Senegal football chief says host Morocco performed poorly at AFCON

Abdoulaye Fall, president of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF), criticized Morocco and the African Football Confederation on Sunday, a week after the controversial final of the African Cup of Nations.

Senegal beat hosts Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the final, after some players briefly retired when the hosts were awarded a penalty at the end of regulation time.

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Fall listed deficiencies in accommodation, security and officiating, and suggested that the home nation had received preferential treatment.

“No country opposed Morocco like Senegal did,” Fall said in a video posted on the Senegalese website Seneweb.

Fall, speaking in the local Wolof language during a ceremony on Saturday, noted that Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa is one of the vice presidents of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which “Morocco controls. Let’s tell the truth,” he said.

Fall complained about the delay in announcing the referees for the final.

“We had to know who would be the referee of the game two days before. We asked them who it would be and they told us that they still did not have any information. There are deadlines for a possible challenge of a referee (but) it was the night before the game, at 10:00 p.m., when they notified us,” Fall said.

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He said CAF explained that it “wanted to protect the referee by avoiding pressure” but that meant “we could no longer challenge him”.

Fall also complained about the hotel assigned to the Senegal team in Rabat for the final, after having spent the previous rounds in Tangier.

“The Senegalese team could not stay in this hotel in the center of the city, with a lot of noise and no access road.”

Furthermore, when the team arrived in Rabat, the players found themselves without security, he said.

He also complained that the Moroccans “wanted to force us to train at their base camp, the ultra-modern Mohamed VI center, unrivaled in Senegal.”

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“If we had gone there, they would have known everything about our team.”

Fall said that after threatening not to play in the final, security was stepped up, the team was able to train in another stadium and a new hotel was found for them.

In the final, Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala disallowed a late Senegal goal for a foul and then, after another video review, awarded a penalty to the host country.

Some of the Senegalese players left briefly as their supporters attempted to invade the pitch, as play was stopped for 15 minutes.

When it resumed, Brahim Díaz missed the penalty.

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