Some people focus on the issue of towels which is an incident that happens or could happen in any stadium in any African country, while ignoring much more serious and dangerous events that occurred during the match. These include the pitch invasion by fans, which everyone witnessed, the Senegal coach’s admission that he decided to withdraw the players, and the acknowledgment by a Senegalese player that the penalty kick was justified.
Photo : Thomas N’Kono, the goalkeeping coach of the Cameroonian national team, noticed before his team’s match against host Mali during the 2002 edition of the tournament that a police officer was throwing strange objects onto the pitch. This angered N’Kono and led to an altercation with the officer, resulting in his brief arrest before he was released a few minutes later.