The players were then asked to sing without the music
The Mauritania national team were told to sing their own national anthem after the wrong music was played twice in the build-up to their game against Gambia on Tuesday.
Ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations group stage opener, the stadium’s sound system failed to play the correct music twice before then instructing the players to sing their own national anthem without the music.
Look at poor Aboubakar Kamara shaking his head as the wrong anthem is played for Mauritania ahead of their game with Gambia. What a shambles. https://t.co/glO1mgBVkB
— Project Football EPL (@ProjectEPL) January 12, 2022
The debacle lasted for several minutes which caused anger amongst the players of Mauritania in what was only their second appearance at the tournament and their first since 2019. where they went out at the group stage.
Mauritania captain and former Fulham man, Aboubakar Kamara, was then spotted shaking his head at the situation at the Limbe Omnisport Stadium before the Gambian national anthem was then played without any issues from the sound system.
The distractions didn’t face Gambia as they were able to secure a 1-0 win thanks to a Ablie Jallow wonder strike from the edge of the box.
TAKE A BOW, Ablie Jallow! 👏
Gambia take the lead with a stunning strike from outside the box! 🎆 pic.twitter.com/ePWdkWuFs5
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 12, 2022
The scenes followed on from controversy from the other Group F fixture between Tunisia and Mali, where the referee, Janny Sikazwe, blew for full-time early twice, sparking outrage amongst the Tunisian camp after they lost 1-0.
CAF officials then proceeded to storm the press conference of the Mali manager to demand the last three minutes of the game be played, however Tunisia refused to come out of their changing room, sparking questions as to whether they were going to appeal.
Related links:
- Referee of Tunisia-Mali game previously suspended due to corruption allegations
- CAF officials storm Mali press conference to demand restart to Tunisia game
- Chaos at AFCON as ref blows early for full-time TWICE in Tunisia vs Mali
