Senegal Coach offers new account of AFCON final walk-off, raising consistency questions

Senegal coach Pape Thiaw has offered another account of his team’s withdrawal from the AFCON final against Morocco, adding to what many observers describe as conflicting explanations since the incident.

In a teaser for a 52-minute documentary titled “Step by Step with Pape Thiaw,” set for release at a later date, Thiaw addressed the controversial decision to take his players off the pitch, saying the team stopped playing due to chaos that erupted in the stands.

“There were our supporters, and on the other side there were also problems. They were even on the pitch, so we couldn’t play,” Thiaw said.

His remarks quickly spread online, with many users viewing them as contradictory to statements he made immediately after the final.

A few days after the match, Thiaw said on social media: “It was never my intention to go against the principles of the game I love so much, but I simply tried to protect my players in the face of what I felt was injustice.”

He added: “What some may see as breaking the rules was, in reality, an emotional reaction to a situation we believed was unfair.”

During the AFCON final, Senegal’s players left the pitch in the closing stages after a VAR review resulted in a penalty being awarded to Morocco.

Play was suspended for about 14 minutes as officials attempted to persuade the team to return, despite regulations requiring matches to continue, with any protests handled after the final whistle.

Reaction on X was swift, with some users mocking the coach’s latest remarks.

One user wrote that Thiaw “doesn’t even know how to lie anymore. We’ve got the videos — you talked about the referee, the penalty.”

Another said the comments amounted to “a falsification of his previous statements,” adding that “this version doesn’t hold.”

However, Thiaw’s remarks in the 1.5-minute teaser do not fully convey the broader context, as the full documentary has yet to be released.