Fair play? Be fair

Fair play? Be fair

All sympathy to Mali, who are out of the Africa Cup of Nations after producing some stunning moments in the group stages of the tournament in Angola.

But cries of "infamy" should fall on deaf ears.

No one has got it in for Mali, despite their claims that they have been booted out of the competition because of the dark schemings of Angola and Algeria.

And if they expect anything to be done about it a day after world governing body Fifa took no action against Thierry Henry for handballing Ireland out of the World Cup, then they are naïve in the extreme.

On paper, their protests seem fair enough.

With Mali 3-1 up against Malawi in Cabinda, all Angola and Algeria needed to do in their own Group A fixture in Luanda was to draw.

That duly happened, leaving Mali on the same points as Algeria, having scored six more goals in three matches and with a goal difference of plus three.

But because Algeria scored their only goal of the tournament in a 1-0 win over Mali, the North Africans went through. And there lies the blame.

Fifa's use of knockout-format criteria in a league system is preposterous, not least because it can produce dead rubbers - when a team cannot hope to qualify even if a massive win would put them on the same points as a rival and with a stratospherically better goal difference.

Yes, teams know the criteria before they play. But that does not mean the criteria work or produce good football. They don't.

Mali's letter to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) the morning after Monday night's matches stated that the hosts and Algeria "systematically refused to play in order to maintain the score at 0-0 which was sufficient for qualification.

"This anti-sporting behaviour is contrary to the ethics and the fair-play policy put forward by Fifa and Caf must condemn it with the utmost vigour."

Mali are clearly hurting. But when your heart's on fire, it is well-documented that smoke gets in your eyes.

In Cabinda on Monday, Mali were 2-0 up against Malawi after just three minutes.

Here in Luanda, that score was being wildly gesticulated round the November 11 stadium even as Angola and Algeria were kicking off.

And they went at it hammer and tongs. Both sides had chances well saved by the keeper and every ball was fought for.

There is no denying that the pace slowed as news of Mali's 3-1 lead filtered through after half time. Algeria defender Madjid Bougherra admitted as much to Al Jazeera immediately after the game.

But again, some decent chances on goal weren't taken. Not deliberately missed, just not scored. Like happens in every football match on every pitch in the world every day.

The fact that neither side went into all-out gung-ho attack is nothing to do with unfair play and everything to do with just not being stupid.

Defeat could have spelled disaster for either team. It would be interesting to see how cavalier Mali would have been if the stakes had been the same for them.

This is a league system, remember. If Mali were drawing a match nil-nil and needed to protect their goal difference, would they leave themselves exposed at the back?

Angola and Algeria played the same tactics as a team that goes into a 1-0 lead and then protects it. They still tried to score. It just wasn't their priority.

Mali hope that Caf "will take the necessary disciplinary measures".

There will be quite a lot of punishment meted out in African football if that is applied.