Algeria-Cameroon (World Cup play-offs): Les Fennecs asked to replay the match against Cameroon

Djamel Belmadi collapsed, distraught players, shocked Algerian fans… elimination during the World Cup play-offs against Cameroon (1-2, ap), Tuesday evening in Blida, still does not pass for the winner of CAN 2019. Considering itself injured by the arbitration, the Algerian selection asked officially to replay the match against the Indomitable Lions: “The FAF is determined to use all the legally permitted avenues to have its rights restored and to replay the match under conditions guaranteeing the honesty and bias of the arbitration.“, specifies the press release of the federation. In question, according to it, “the scandalous arbitration having distorted the result of the Algeria-Cameroon play-off match“.

The request should also be sent in the coming hours, specifies the Algerian site. “I say it today without fear: these referees do not respect our country. They come here, see our work and don’t respect us. In the last two years, I haven’t seen a single referee who isn’t aggressive when you come to talk to him. I’m not looking for excuses, these are facts“, dropped Djamel Belmadi after the elimination of the Fennecs.

The chances of seeing the process succeed are very low or even nil. In its regulations, FIFA specifies that “the decisions of the referee on facts in relation to the game are final, including the validation of a goal and the result of a match”. In November 2009, despite the controversy linked to the hand of Thierry Henry, at the origin of the goal of William Gallas during the France-Ireland return dam (1-1, ap), FIFA had very quickly closed the file. A precedent that leaves almost no hope for Algerian supporters.