President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz

NOUAKCHOTT — The Mauritanian federation has been forced to deny that the country’s president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, ordered a penalty shootout in the 63rd minute of the Super Cup final out of boredom.

Abdel Aziz was in attendance to watch the final between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar last weekend, which was abruptly called to a halt with the score level at 1-1, to the astonishment of the rest of the crowd, before the referee signaled for a shootout.

The decision has provoked outrage in Mauritania amid accusations that Abdel Aziz had become impatient with the slow tempo of the match, eventually won by Tevragh-Zeina.

But the Mauritanian federation’s president, Ahmed Ould Abderrahmane, wrote in a statement: “I deny in the strongest terms the intervention of the President of the Republic. The decision was made due to organizational issues in accordance with the presidents and the coaches of the two teams.”