As everything is possible in terms of arbitration in this AFCON, we thought for a moment that Mr. Gassama, uninspired during this round of 16, was going to have Falaye Sacko‘s shot on goal withdrawn, stopped by Guinean goalkeeper Equatorial Guinea in the quarterfinals”>Jesus Owono . But not finally and, after a few moments of hesitation, it is indeed the surprising Equatorial Guinea which qualified and will face Senegal next Sunday in the quarter-finals of the CAN to the great despair of Mali (0-0, 6-5 to tabs).
The Malians were undefeated until then and, even if they did not lose, they were unable to move this Guinean team, solid, aggressive sometimes even mean and a little cheating. And who had surprised Algeria already in the first round (1-0).
In a match with two shots on target, the best opportunity was finally for the Malians, a shot above Mohamed Camara alone against the almost empty goal, after a center back from Yves Bissouma (58th). Well, that’s about all and it was too little, even if Mali can regret both its lack of ambition in the last 20 meters and some serious refereeing errors.
A sometimes incredible arbitration
As a constant in this AFCON, some decisions were still sometimes incredible. This is not a first since the start of the competition on this kind of gesture but we still wonder how the horrible sole of Federico Bikoro on Amadou Haïdara only earned the Guinean a yellow card (75th). In the first half, the VAR intervened to cancel a penalty to the Malians, first granted by Mr. Gassama, and which, frankly, could be whistled. On this action, Moussa Doumbia had been thrown off balance twice, first by a tackle then by a hip kick in the area (40th).
Too bad because it could have rewarded Mali, overall master of the game, and shorten the suffering of the spectators of this very poor and nervous match. The video assistance, however, slept in the second half on a blatant hand in its surface from the Guinean central defender Saul Coco (72nd). That’s a lot and Equatorial Guinea is doing very well. To see if his minimalist game will be enough against Senegal in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
