In general, there’s been one sport we’ve avoided talking about in this space — meaning the “headline” part of the newsletter — because it feels ethnocentric to call it obscure, especially when it comes to “covering”1 it: soccer. It’s the most popular sport in the world, in terms of both participation and patronage, as well as something that is carried by major networks as a pillar of their sports coverage in ways that would have been unimaginable when we were growing up. So even our usual caveat of “is it popular in the US?” doesn’t fit it, even if you ignore completely that we are literally hosting the World Cup in two months2.
On top of that — and even in keeping with our standard of “random cups and tournaments count and we get to decide what random is”4 — it can be kind of hard to find a sweet spot between referring to something as “obscure” and talking about it in a way that comes off as a British Imperial officer drawing map lines in some far-off continent based entirely off vibes3. As such, even when interesting/fun stories happen in non-UEFA football associations or league, we don’t go out of our way to provide anything more than passing commentary on it.
But, every once in a while, there’s going to be a story that sits so perfectly in the intersection of what it is we do here — politics, random airing times, a “Joanne the Scammer” level of ‘messy bitch who lives for drama’ complications — and, boy howdy, did we get one over the past few days.
For those unaware of what happened in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals roughly two months ago, here’s a brief synopsis:
In the 2nd minute of injury time at the end of regulation in a nil-nil match, Senegal had a game/tournament-winning goal disallowed, which sent the team into a rage
Which was further exacerbated by what is considered by most to be a terrible call to award a penalty kick to Morocco in the 8th minute of that same extra time.
At this point, Senegal recreated “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool” scene from Half Baked and let the field in protest for roughly fifteen minutes.
Eventually, Senegal’s players were convinced to return to the field and continue play, which included the penalty kick for Morocco, which was subsequently missed.
Ater the failed conversion, injury time/regulation was ended and extra time began, at which point Senegal scored a goal which was not answered by Morocco in the bonus period, winning the match, the final and the tournament.
Until yesterday.
Which is when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) appeals board decided, that, “Um, Actually, Senegal forfeited the game by walking off the pitch”5as part of their initial protest of the ref’s call in the 98th minute of the game. Which, as someone who has been following sports since they were a toddler is literally the dumbest shit I have ever heard in my entire life6.
And that’s not even because the ruling is based in its entirety on the narrowest possible interpretation of a single rule in the tournament charter, which states:
"if, for any reason whatsoever, a team withdraws from the competition or does not report for a match, or refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorization of the referee, it shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition."
But that this decision was made even after they kept on playing the game after Senegal came back to the field. Based on this, it’s pretty easy to assume that, as per the discretion of the referees in the game, Senegal never refused to play. I am not sure what you’d call their actions — petulant, maybe, though given the context of such poor officiating in front of a hostile Moroccan crowd, I get it, my dudes — but it doesn’t seem as though there’s any good faith way to claim that it constituted a “refus[al] to play,” especially considering they never left the grounds. Which was the primary argument of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF)7.
This, unfortunately, leaves us with a couple of questions, some that are quick and easy and others that may take weeks, months or even years to properly answer. The most urgent of which, is, of course, “Who decides what happens next and when?”
For now, technically, the Moroccans are the champions of the 2025-2026 AFCON tournament and, although the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration For Sport (which adjudicates such matters internationally) it’s understood that this part of the process could take as long as a year to resolve itself. And thankfully, whatever the result of that decision, it will not prevent Senegal from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, as that is done through a separate process8.
But even if that elucidates the Who, the What and the When, it still leaves the two thorniest and most complicated bits of the resolution process to figure out: Why did this happen and how can it be prevented from happening again?
To understand the first half, it’s important to appreciate the context of the CAF, which started in the late 1950s, was founded by three countries, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and saw steady growth over the next 15 years, with waves of countries joining every following Morocco’s induction as the sole addition to the group in 1959. Between 1960 and 1968, more than half of what now constitutes the totality of the CAF joined, with “classes” ranging from two to nine teams over the course of the decade long collapse of the colonial order/rise of the professionalize/creation of sporting institutions across the continent.
Although they joined only six years apart9, Morocco’s influence on the CAF far outstrips that of Senegal in any number of ways, not least of which is administrative. With a significantly larger economy than their southwestern neighbors — although Morocco is still a relatively poor nation on a per-capita basis, the totality of GDP puts them in the top 50 or so of nations on earth and more than four times the size of Senegal’s — and major investment in soccer infrastructure on the continent, rumblings about undue influence have emerged as the “Kingdom of Light” attempts to establish itself as the dominant soccer program in the region.
This kind of regional gravity warping everything around it is, of course, not unprecedented in international sport, or even this newsletter. As we discussed in our very first edition, countries like India often leverage economic growth in relatively depressed regions to influence whatever levers of soft power they can get their hands on to create cultural cache for themselves, either in a superregional/continental or international sense, depending on the scale of their ambitions.
As we saw, the BCCI’s influence on ICC has created geopolitical nightmares that far outstrip even what’s happening the wake of the AFCON fiasco. There’s been no shadow banning of players from other countries, or removal of teams from major tournaments based on fairly reasonable requests other teams were willing to help accommodate.
So, at least in that sense, all that’s truly left in the aftermath of this completely insane and unprecedented decision is hurt egos and wounded national pride. And, if that ends up being the end of this, it might be the best (though it does seem likely the CAS will rule in favor of Senegal as it is not under the influence of an influx of Moroccan money into its coffers) possible outcome given the clusterfuck that has preceded it.
As for making sure something like this — not some kind of end around of on the field results, per se, as much as a push by more powerful nations against those around them to bend to their will/desire for regional supremacy — doesn’t happen again? Unfortunately, it’s probably going to involve figure out how to fix all the problems that happened because of this nonsense:
And, as my mother would say: Good fucking luck with that shit, kid.
What We’re Watching Until Next Wednesday
Wednesday at 15:45 ET
⚽️: Coppa Titano Semifinal 2nd Leg - Tre Fiori v. Virtus
After a scoreless first leg, Tre Fiori and Virtus meet in the second leg of their cup semifinal. We generally avoid UEFA countries, but considering San Marino is ranked as the worst European league, they get special treatment.
Thursday at 04:30 ET
🦘🏈: AFL - Hawthorn v. Sydney
This early morning Thursday and Friday matches are a guilty pleasure of mine. Wake up early, make some coffee, and enjoy the games as the sun comes up (or while it’s still dark out, I guess). It is still insanely early in the season, so still plenty of time to pick a team too!
Friday at 19:00 ET
🥍: NLL - Saskatchewan v. Toronto
Plenty of good NLL games this weekend. Saskatchewan v. Toronto gets the nod since it is 1st (Saskatchewan) v. 5th (Toronto) and an all-Canadian match up. Plus the green in the Saskatchewan jerseys are just ugly enough to be enjoyable (at times).
Saturday at 09:45 ET
🏉⑦: World SVNS 2 - Day 1
The second of three stops on the second tier of the World Rugby sevens series in Uruguay. The six teams will play another round robin tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The United States currently sit in 2nd-place after their runner-up finish in Kenya last month.
Sunday at 14:00 ET
🎯: PDC Belgian Darts Open - Final session
With the Round of 16 having been played earlier in the morning at 08:00 ET, the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final will finish off the tournament. This tournament will be worth watching for the solid Belgian crowd and a venue that resembles a roller rink from the 1990s.
Monday at 12:00 ET
🤸: NCAA Tournament Selection Show
OK, I get it. This one is a little bit of a stretch since it isn’t exactly live sports, but I am a sucker for selection shows and the NCAA gymnastics tournament is actually a pretty cool format. It is certainly worth checking out during your Monday lunch break.
Tuesday at 19:00 ET
🥍: NCAA Men’s Lax - #15 Boston University v. #4 Harvard
Two top 15 teams face-off in a battle for Boston bragging rights. This may not have the appeal of the Beanpot in hockey, but should be a fantastic game nonetheless. Plus what else are you going to watch? The TGL Finals? Actually…
1 As opposed to “tracking” it for a streaming schedule, which is more of a “need a compelling reason why not” situation then writing about a sport with any kind of depth, either in this newsletter or in our upcoming recurring features that will start to roll out next week.
2 It’s important to remember that soccer was not particularly popular in 1994, at least not as a spectator sport, when we hosted it then.
3 This site is nothing if not the “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” conundrum made manifest when it comes to what’s actually obscure and what’s “things we like and want an excuse to write about”. .
4 And potential for causing exploitable civil unrest. (See: Essentially every genocide committed in the Africa or the Middle East in the last 200 years.)
5 But not the grounds in their totality, which is (at least by the letter of the law) an important distinction.
6 And my ex in-laws voted for Trump three times.
7 Their statement is, of course, an all-timer in the
8 Wherein both Morocco and Senegal finished atop their respective groups and, thereby, qualified automatically for it.
9 As mentioned, “Class” of ‘59 for Morocco and ‘64 for Senegal.