The Tunisian FA (TFA) have stated they will not apologise to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for criticising the referee they blame for ending their African Nations Cup challenge.
Referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn, 44, of Mauritius was given a six-month ban and removed from the CAF list of elite officials following his controversial handling of the quarterfinal between Tunisia and hosts Equatorial Guinea on Saturday.
The tournament hosts eventually came through 2-1 after extra-time, though they had required the generous award of a penalty deep into added time at the end of the 90 minutes to keep them in contention, a decision which -- along with the final outcome -- infuriated the Tunisians.
CAF demanded the TFA apologise or prove Rajindrapasard had been biased in his officiating, as certain TFA officials had claimed, before Feb. 5 or risk being excluded from the 2017 Nations Cup.
"Why should we apologise? We have asked the CAF to specify what we should apologise for. We said the referee made decisions against us. We have demanded the CAF open an enquiry," TFA vice-president Maher Snoussi is cited as saying by L'Equipe.
He added that he did not feel TFA representatives had "insulted the Executive Committee of the CAF, nor CAF officials."
The TFA were also fined $50,000 for damage to the stadium in Bata caused by their team's players.