The Confederation of African Football has disqualified Senegal from the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations "following fans violence during the final qualifier for the competition in Dakar," according to Olusola Babarinsa of the DAILY TIMES NIGERIA. A statement posted on the CAF website said the referee was forced to stop the match in the 74th minute when “missiles, stones, bottles, firecrackers were thrown onto the pitch and tear gas was used.” The statement added, “As a result CAF decided to officially confirm the result of the match as 2-0 in favor of Ivory Coast in accordance with the provisions of article 16 para 20 of the regulations of the competition and to consider Senegal the loser of the said match and eliminated from the competition without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be imposed by CAF Disciplinary Board” (DAILY TIMES NIGERIA, 10/16). In London, Simon Rice reported that the news means EPL Newcastle United strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cissé "will not be called away from club duties" during the Africa Cup of Nations in January and February. West Ham's Mohamed Diame "will also stay at home." Saturday's violence was sparked by Ivory Coast's second goal by Didier Drogba in the 70th minute (INDEPENDENT, 10/16).
TAKING THE BLAME: The AFP reported that Senegal Manager Ferdinand Coly said that Senegal "will accept punishment" for the riot. Coly: "We are going to face some difficult days, but Senegal will accept the sanctions. In the meantime, we must apologise to Ivory Coast and make sure we do everything to avoid this happening again" (AFP, 10/16).
