The African referee, who blew the whistle to signal the end of the match in the 85th minute, will take charge of his first match at the World Cup in Qatar on Wednesday evening (today).
Zambia’s Janny Sikazwe was the subject of online ridicule and controversy after he blew the whistle twice earlier this year even though the match was not yet over. He later claimed that he had a dizzy spell that caused him to hallucinate in the match between Tunisia and Mali.
“I got to the point where I could start hearing a noise and I thought someone was communicating with me and people were saying ‘no, don’t close the game.’ It was a very strange situation”, said Sikazwe.
“I was thinking in my head who told me to end the game. Maybe I was talking to myself, I don’t know. That’s how bad the situation was.”
However, despite his mistake, Sikazwe is still regarded as one of the best referees in the world and was given a place to officiate a match in Qatar. And he will be the man in the middle as Belgium take on Canada.
Sikazwe may have to stay on the pitch a bit longer than he did in February, with FIFA counting every minute he has missed for various reasons.