I Think God Told Me To End The Match, Says AFCON Ref Who Blew Full Time At 85 Minutes In Mali-Tunisia Match, Reveals How He Could Have Died

 Zambia-born AFCON Referee, Janny Sikazwe has finally broken his silence in the wake of his controversial officiating between Tunisia and Mali in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament currently going on in Cameroon.

Sikawe made headlines after blowing early for full time not once but twice in hugely controversial scenes in the tense match between the two teams.

He had blown for full time in the 85^th minute of the match with Mali leading with a lone goal, but after concerns and objections from both sets of players and the coaching crew, he ended the match before the 90-minute mark.

READ ALSO: Ifa Oracle Worshippers Blow Hot!, Tells The Nigerian Government What To Do For Ritual Killings To Stop

In between the controversial stoppage-time blunders, Sikazwe also dished out a very controversial red card to Mali forward El Bilal Toure.

As at the 85^th minute, The Tunisian team was 1-goal down and was pressing for an equalizer but was left dumbfounded when Sikazwe in a bizarre manner blew for full time. This prompted the staff and substitutes of the North African country to invade the pitch, remonstrating with the decision.

The CAF officials later waded in and instructed the two teams to go back to the pitch to complete the tie but only Malian players went back to complete the game with the distraught Tunisian team boycotting the remainder of the match.

According to reports, Referee Sikazwe after the match was later taken to hospital with sunstroke, and the Zambian referee has now claimed that 'he could've died from the heat.

In his words:

"I have seen people going for duties outside the country and come back in a casket. I was very close to coming back like that. I was lucky I didn't go into a coma. It would have been a very different story.

"The doctors told me my body was not cooling down. It would have been just a little time before [I would have gone] into a coma, and that would have been the end. I think God told me to end the match. He saved me."

 

Sikazwe, while speaking to the Zambian press after returning to his homeland, averred that the weather in Limbe, Cameroon, the venue of the match premised his bizarre decision-making in the second half.

He said: "The weather was so hot, and the humidity was about 85 percent.

"After the warm-up, I felt the [conditions] were something else. We were trying to drink water but you could not feel the water quenching you - nothing.

"But we [match officials] believe we are soldiers and we go and fight.

"Everything I was putting on was hot. Even the communication equipment, I wanted to throw it away. It was so hot."

"I started getting confused. I could not hear anybody," he added.

"I reached the point where I could start hearing some noise and I thought someone was communicating with me and people were telling me 'no you ended the match'. It was a very strange situation.

"I was going through my head to find who told me to end the match. Maybe I was talking to myself, I don't know. That is how bad the situation was."