HIBAPRESS – Sports
The match between the Algerian national team and Equatorial Guinea at the Moulay Hassan stadium in Rabat on Wednesday evening witnessed an unexpected incident, after a shortage was discovered in the number of balls allocated for the match, as two balls disappeared out of 15, which necessitated urgent measures by the tournament organizers.
According to media sources, the surveillance cameras in the stadium were inspected, where the recordings showed a member of the technical staff of the Algerian national team taking a ball during a break between the two halves, while the fate of the second ball remained unknown despite extensive attempts to find it. In a surprising development, the official coordinator from the African Football Confederation visited the Algerian national team's dressing room to investigate the incident, which initially prompted the staff to deny it. But after showing the video of the incident, the team admitted to obtaining the ball, and the detained ball was returned immediately, to end the incident without any impact on the course of the matches. This event is considered exceptional in the history of the tournament, as the organization of the African Cup of Nations rarely witnesses such cases inside its stadiums, but the speed of response from the African Union contributed to overcoming the situation smoothly and ensuring the smooth running of the competitions.
