The game between Senegal and Egypt that handed out a spot in the FIFA World Cup ended up providing quite a few headlines, including the appearance of lasers aimed at Egypt players, which some believed to be a cause for their distraction and eventual elimination.
The incident regarding the use of lasers, added to supposed racist abuse aimed at some of the Egyptians, especially against Mohamed Salah, prompted the Egyptian Football Association to publish a statement condemning these actions, while also urging FIFA to take action against those responsible for the behavior of the Senegalese fans.
"The Egyptian team was subject to racist abuse from Senegal fans holding up signs with offensive phrases aimed at our players, namely against Mohamed Salah. Added to that, Senegalese fans terrorized the Egyptian footballers by throwing bottles and stones at them during their warmup, while also attacking their bus, breaking its windows and causing some injuries to the footballers, which we have documented with videos and pictures," the press release by the Egyptian FA stated.
The team's complaint has not gone unnoticed by FIFA, who have already agreed to start an investigation in regards to the incidents mentioned in the letter.
"FIFA is currently analyzing all reports from the World Cup Qualifying match in question. All relevant information included in those reports will be evaluated by the competent disciplinary bodies before we take further action," FIFA stated in a short press release.
It is yet to be determined if Senegal will be sanctioned by these incidents, since the FIFA World Cup draw is right around the corrner and a harsh punishment, such as eliminating the hosts for that game from the World Cup, could face some legal barriers before it can be carried out. Either way, it will be interesting to see how FIFA handles such a situation after pursuing similar discriminatory practices with other national teams across the globe.
