WATCH | Kaze criticises Senegal’s walk-off during Afcon final

Kaizer Chiefs coach Cedric Kaze has condemned Senegal’s dramatic action of storming off the pitch in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final against the hosts, Morocco, in Rabat, also aiming a swipe at the North Africans for “feeling entitled to win”.

“Not everything was negative during this Afcon. I will start with myself; sometimes I don’t agree with the referee and things like that, but to walk out of the field, that’s not good... That’s a precedent we should all condemn by not allowing it to be a way of protesting,” Kaze told a presser at Naturena on Monday.

To walk out of the field is not good... That’s a precedent we should all condemn by not allowing it to be a way of protesting.

—  Cedric Kaze, Kaizer Chiefs coach

“Personally, I think that penalty [that made Senegal players temporarily leave the pitch] was true... It was a true penalty; maybe they can talk about the previous action, the goal Senegal scored – that’s another story.

“I think that the spectacle that we had since the beginning was tremendously entertaining... Every game was of a high level, but there are some things that we saw yesterday that are shameful for African football.”

Senegal eventually won 1-0, courtesy of Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye’s goal in the fourth minute of extra time, to lift the trophy.

In the 98th minute, Congolese referee Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco the penalty after a VAR check, reviewing El Hadji Malick Diouf’s challenge on Brahim Diaz.

Still angered by Ndala’s decision moments earlier to disallow what looked like a clear goal for them, Senegal coach Pape Thiaw ushered his team off the field.

Sadio Mane urged his teammates to return to the pitch, and they eventually listened to him after a 17-minute delay.

Real Madrid’s Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, took Morocco’s spot-kick, but his tame “panenka” effort was easily stopped by Senegal keeper Edouard Mendy, who barely had to break a sweat. Ndala immediately blew his whistle for full-time after Diaz’s miss.

Gueye would score the winning goal in the fourth minute of extra time to seal the deal for Senegal, making it their second Afcon title in five years after their 2021 triumph.

“There are some teams from some parts of Africa that think that they are entitled to win in any way, and then when things don’t go their way, they do everything to make things happen,” Kaze said.

“Sometimes they even do things that are not honest... I will give you an example of a game that we played against Zamalek; we conceded after two or three minutes, but their players were falling down throughout 90 minutes... That’s the mentality. When you do that to them, they will start complaining.”