Ghana striker Benjamin Tetteh has reportedly been ban by the Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for punching Gabonese player after full time.
This will rule Tetteh out of the knockout and quarter final stages of the tournament as the Black Stars take steps to qualify to the next stage of the tournament.
Tetteh was shown a retrospective red card by Algerian official Lahlou Benbraham for swinging a punch at a Gabon player.
The incident took place at the end of Ghana’s 1-1 draw with Gabon on Friday evening, a hugely damaging result for the Black Stars in their bid to reach the knockouts.
There was visible frustration on the Ghana bench after Gabon’s Jim Allevinah scored an equaliser in the 88th minute.
And that frustration spilled onto the pitch after Benbraham blew for full-time, with players arguing with each other and their opponents.
Eventually 24-year-old Tetteh, who had come on as a substitute, swung a punch at Aaron Boupendza.
Tetteh saw the referee trying to work out who was the offender and quickly ran down the tunnel off the pitch.
After striking his opponent in a post-match brawl Benjamin Tetteh ran down the tunnel and away from the referee. Nevertheless the ref, assisted by VAR on the identity of the culprit, refused to accept that and called for his return.
After being informed of the culprit a furious Benbraham refused to leave the pitch, telling Arsenal’s Thomas Partey and other members of the Ghana set-up to “send No 25 out.”
However, Tetteh still didn’t emerge. Eventually Benbraham gestured to the crowd that the red card had been shown to No 25, which is Tetteh’s number.
It will also be included in his report.
By Vincent Kubi