AFCON: Controversy in Mali-Tunisia game as referee ends match twice before 90th minute [VIDEO]

There was controversy in the just-ended game between Mali and Tunisia at AFCON 2021.

The referee in charge, Janny Sikazwe, was at the centre of the controversy with a number of highly contentious calls.

Sikazwe astonishingly blew the final whistle in the 85th minute of the game with Mali ahead 1-0, which caused some confusion among the players and the technical teams of both sides.

After he was corrected on his call and restarted the match, the Zambian referee then harshly sent off Malian forward, El Bilal Toure.

Video: Referee blows final whistle in 85th minute

https://twitter.com/uKnowBall/status/1481278507997188099

Despite being asked by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to review the decision, Sikazwe upheld his earlier call.

The referee then bafflingly blew his whistle before the 90th-minute mark, prompting a very upset Tunisian bench to empty onto the field to confront the official.

Sikazwe had to be escorted off the field by security personnel as the Tunisian players and technical staff continued to pursue him.

It was a surprising decision from the referee to end the match without any stoppage time, as the second half had seen nine substitutions, a cooling break and two relatively lengthy VAR checks.

A decision was then taken for the match to resume for five more minutes, with the officials and the Malian team returning to the pitch.

However, the Tunisians refused to play and after waiting for a while, the referee blew for full-time for the third time in the match.

Now it looks like Tunisia refused to come out and play the final three minutes

Sikazwe and Mali waited for them and blew the whistle calling off the match

Now it's officially full time pic.twitter.com/oviP8C9bzX

— Maher Mezahi (@MezahiMaher) January 12, 2022

It wasn’t just the people in the stadium who were confused by the referee’s decisions, as fans on social media tried to make sense of what they had just seen.

The referee had earlier awarded penalties to either team – Mali scored theirs to take the lead before Tunisia missed theirs.

https://twitter.com/thatEsselguy/status/1481278037245280262

https://twitter.com/Freddie_GH/status/1481281407511105537

The referee has blown the final whistle at the 85th minute

Complete confusion…

— Maher Mezahi (@MezahiMaher) January 12, 2022

https://twitter.com/Badstuber_I/status/1481276587001757707

https://twitter.com/KayPoissonOne/status/1481277841073442817

https://twitter.com/mensaduncan/status/1481278476695093251

https://twitter.com/WelBeast/status/1481278245416980484

The referee just disgraced the whole of African football

— ➕T∆SHION (@kaytashion_) January 12, 2022

Last 5 min of Tunisia v Mali in #AFCON2021

– Ref blows the whistle for full time on 85 min.
– Restarts the play.
– Sends off a Mali player in 87th min.
– VAR tells the ref it's not a red.
– Ref rejects the VAR decision.
– Ref blows again for full time on 89.40min

The Referee: pic.twitter.com/gUcV3Q9y7U

— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) January 12, 2022