The day after the press conference of the leaders of the Federation and their lawyers, the Senegalese coach Pape Thiaw also appeared before the media this Friday. For the first time since the decision of the CAF appeal jury to give his team a 3-0 defeat on the green carpet, the technician was able to express his point of view.
“The work of an entire country”
“I am focused on my work, it is important not to be scattered. Everyone knows that we are African champions. We will continue to work and seek other trophies. It is clear in our heads that competitions, trophies are won on the green rectangle,” said the coach.
On the evening of the final, Pape Thiaw himself asked his players to leave the pitch following the referee’s decision to award a penalty to Morocco, before subsequently apologizing. It was on this episode that the appeal jury based its decision, recalling that if a team “refuses to play or leaves the field before the legal end of the match”, “it will be considered a loser and will be definitively eliminated from the current competition”.
Next to his coach at the Stade de France, where the Senegalese will face Peru in a friendly for their first match since these events, Idrissa Gueye, captain during the final, felt he deserved “to be African champion on the field”, and “try to do the same thing off the field”.
A few days ago, he said “to be ready to group the medals and return them to Morocco if it can ease tensions between the two countries”. But that would not change anything, he recalled, about what happened that evening in Rabat.
“The strong emotions we experienced, there is nothing that can replace that,” continued the Everton midfielder. During the last four African Cups, Senegal has reached three finals and twice been African champion. And these results were not stolen. It’s the work of an entire country, of an entire nation, seriously, which gives everything on the pitch, as well as off the pitch.”
Our file on the CAN
The Senegalese Football Federation appealed Wednesday to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Its president Abdoulaye Fall declared Thursday during a press conference in Paris that Senegal had been the victim of “the grossest administrative robbery in the history of our sport”. Morocco, for its part, threatened reprisals if it presented the CAN trophy on Saturday at the Stade de France, as announced.
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