African Cup Of Nationcoupe d'afrique 2004
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  Tunisia rapidly losing friends


For Tunisia, the record reads played four, won three and one semi-final place achieved.
For their opponents, it's four national anthems booed, three allegations of cheating and two opponents sent-off.
Tunisia's bad-tempered 1-0 win against Senegal in the quarter-finals on Saturday was the latest in a series of stormy encounters over the last two weeks at the country's flagship 60,000-capacity Rades stadium.
"The match was decided on an error by the referee," said Senegal coach Guy Stephan after Jawhar Mnari's 65th minute goal knocked out his World Cup quarter-finalists.
Senegal, runners-up two years ago, claimed that El Hadji Diouf had been fouled by Mehdi Nafti before the goal was scored.
But UAE referee Ali Bujsaim waved play on and Nafti found Ziad Jaziri whose overhead cross fell for Mnari to power a downward header home.
Play was held up for five minutes as Senegal officials came on to the pitch to protest and, at the end of the match, 10 minutes of injury time was played.
"We had confidence in the Confederation of African Football choosing a neutral referee but the images are clear, there was a mistake," said Stephan.
Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre tried to calm the waters.
"You need courage and the referee made his decisions from his soul and conscience," said the Frenchman.
Bujsaim, a highly-respected official with three World Cups under his belt, booked three Tunisians and two Senegalese and vehemently defended his handling of the game.
"I am certain of my decision. There was no foul on El Hadji Diouf," Bujsaim told AFP.
News of Mnari's winner will not have brightened the soul of Democratic Republic of Congo striker Lomana LuaLua, one of the men red-carded at Rades in the tournament.
He gently kicked-out at the ankles of Mnari during the teams' group match here but the Tunisian collapsed theatrically to the ground, holding his head and writhing in agony.
"Ever since we arrived here, they treated us like shit," said LuaLua at the time.
"The guy had been punching and kicking me. They got what they wanted, they planned for all of this. They were afraid of us. They knew we were coming," added the Portsmouth striker who joined Rwanda's Abdul Sibomana as a Rades red-card victim.
DR Congo coach Mick Wadsworth was equally unimpressed by the hosts' behaviour both on and off the pitch.
"All along there were problems. It's very difficult to play in this environment," said the Englishman who lost his job after Congo's elimination from the tournament.
Tunisian fans, desperate for their side to win a first-ever African crown, too have come under fire especially for their whistling of the national anthems of all four opponents here - Rwanda, Guinea, Congo and Senegal.
"I can't understand it," said Senegal skipper Pape Malick Diop.
"I was flabbergasted that supporters are allowed to whistle through national anthems."

AFP


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Derniére mise à jour 30/3/2009