We reported this yesterday. Congo is contesting its elimination from the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Leading their group before the last day, the Red Devils traveled to Niger last weekend. They needed to win and hope for a misstep from Burkina Faso against Gabon. Finally, the Stallions did well by dominating the Panthers 1-0 while Congo, held 2-2 by Mena, was eliminated.
Since then, Congo has filed a complaint against Niger for fraudulent use of a player. This is Mahamane Cisse. The latter, a scorer during this meeting, would not be Nigerian, attests the authorities of the Red Devils. According to information, Cisse, a Djoliba player, holds Malian nationality through his mother and has already played with the Eagles’ youth selections (Editor’s note: which does not prevent him from choosing another A selection). But apparently, not all the papers are in order.
Gernot Rohr, the Niger coach, rejects any non-regulatory use of his midfielder. “Mahamane Cissé had been with us since, even against Burkina but he was not yet qualified… We received the player’s qualification the day before the match against Congo. And we used it. Mahamane is well suited to playing…”, he confided to our colleague Moussavou Billa from Canal 3 International.
If this complaint is confirmed, the ranking of this group, which has already crowned Burkina Faso, could be upset.
