Africa Cup of Nations - protest

Mali launch complaint after elimination

Article published on the 2010-01-19 Latest update 2010-01-19 15:43 TU

Mamadou Bagayoko of Mali celebrates his goal against Malawi in Cabinda on 18 January, 2010
(Photos: Reuters)

The Mali Football Federation has made a formal protest after being eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

In the final Group A matches on Monday night, Mali beat Malawi 3-1 but Algeria’s 0-0 draw with the hosts meant that Mali and Algeria finished level on four points.

However, Algeria progressed to the knockout stages along with group winners Angola courtesy of their head-to-head record with Mali. The Algerians won the group game between the two sides 1-0.

But Mali have now lodged a complaint with the tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), claiming that the hosts and Algeria purposely played out a goalless draw to qualify for the quarter-finals at their expense.

A lively match between Angola and Algeria became somewhat duller in the second half when it became clear that Mali were on course for victory against Malawi.

Mali suggest that on hearing the latest score from their game, neither Angola or Algeria wanted to take an unnecessary risk that would see one of them go out.

"We are lodging a vehement protest against the behaviour of the Algeria and Angola teams," the Mali Football Federation president Boubacar Thiam wrote.

"In fact the second half of this game was a total non-match, the two sides systematically refusing to play in order to maintain the score at 0-0 which was sufficient for qualification."

"This anti-sporting behaviour is contrary to the ethics and the fair-play policy put forward by FIFA and CAF must condemn it with the utmost vigour. It does a disservice to African football and to the game in general. We hope that CAF will take the necessary disciplinary measures."

Thiam believes there is a precedent dating from the Africa Cup of Nations Youth Championships in 2001, when Cameroon and Egypt were made to replay a match after playing out a scoreless draw in similar circumstances.

However, any suggestion that the Angola-Algeria result had been arranged beforehand was strongly rejected by both teams.

"It's wrong to insinuate that I met the Algerian captain to talk about fixing this game,” Angolan captain Kali said. “Journalists in Angola insinuate a lot of things and bring up a lot of negative points - it's wrong. I had no contact with the Algerian captain."

"I don't accept at all that this was a fixed match and that we had some sort of agreement with the Angolan team to play for a draw," Algeria coach Rabah Saadane said.

Saadane must know how Mali are feeling. He was the assistant Algerian coach at the 1982 World Cup when neighbours West Germany and Austria denied the African side a place in the next stage.

Knowing that a 1-0 win for West Germany would see both teams go through, the two sides played out the remainder of the game with the minimum of effort once the Germans took the lead on ten minutes.

As a result of the fallout from that incident, FIFA ordered that the last round of matches in the group stages should be played simultaneously from the 1986 World Cup on.