Although days have passed since the end of the heated battle between Egypt and Senegal in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Egyptians have not yet recovered from the shock of not qualifying for the Qatar World Cup.
After what was reported in various media outlets about an official Egyptian complaint submitted to the International Federation (FIFA) calling for the match to be replayed due to “public abuse”, new statements came on Sunday, implicitly declaring that there is no possibility of replaying the match.
The complaint, which the President of the Egyptian Football Association, Gamal Allam, confirmed, had officially reached the corridors of FIFA, as “the International Federation heard the complaint of the Egyptian delegation, and is following the situation, and there is confidence in the replay of the match between Egypt and Senegal, because of the events that witnessed, and it was summoned.” President of the Senegalese Football Association,” according to Allam’s statements, which were reported by the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram.
The head of the Egyptian Federation considered, in televised statements, that there is still a long time before the start of the World Cup, and there are about 8 months and more left, expecting to play the “match again next June”, with the remaining matches in a number of continents.
According to several reports, the Egyptian complaint touched on what happened in the return match against Senegal, which was hosted by the “Abdullah Wade” stadium in Dakar, to several violations such as throwing hostile projectiles at the players, and the extensive use of laser beams during the execution of penalty kicks, as well as “racist” expressions. “I directed the players of the Egyptian national team, led by Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.
The President of the Football Association stressed that preserving Egypt’s rights is the most important, and “we are waiting for a penalty to be taken to the Sports Court, explaining that Egypt has a precedent in the Zimbabwe match,” a match that FIFA issued a decision to repeat in Lyon, France, in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. , After mass abuses occurred in the Cairo Stadium match, which was won by Egypt.
But “Thiqa”, the president of the Egyptian Federation, was followed a few days later by “completely different” statements made by a member of the board of directors of the same union.
And on Sunday, the Egyptian website “Vilgol” quoted a member of the council, Amer Hussein, asking him not to “discourage” the fans by repeating the match between Egypt and Senegal (giving hope to the fans that this might happen).
Hussein said: “We have submitted all the notes, reports and pictures related to the Egypt-Senegal match to FIFA, and there are no indications to replay the match, and we cannot “populate” the public with the matter.”
It is noteworthy that the World Cup draw was already held last Friday, and resulted in Senegal playing the first match in the tournament against the Netherlands in Group A, which also includes the organizing country Qatar and Ecuador.
The Egyptian fans wished to be in the World Cup for the fourth time, the second in a row, after the 1934, 1990 and 2018, but the loss against Senegal on penalties dashed those hopes.