Mondial 2026 : «Maya Fall fait partie du système qui voulait éliminer le Sénégal»
Maya Fall. The name of this American woman of Senegalese origin appeared several times in the interview with "Chef Diallo" published this Monday in L'Observateur. The Lions' cook accuses her of having been tasked with turning Senegal's American dream into a nightmare, even suspecting her of being behind his hasty return home on the eve of Pape Thiaw's men's first match against France, after he was accused of sexual harassment. "She is part of the system that wanted to eliminate Senegal," declared the man who boasts 25 years of service to the Lions.
According to "Chef Diallo's" account, Maya Fall was mandated by FIFA to accompany the Lions and the Elephants of Ivory Coast. She was put in touch with the Senegalese delegation two months before their arrival in the United States. "She was responsible for all the logistics," the chef explained. "We worked for two months on all the gathering places and catering."
The Lions deprived of halal meat
Unfortunately, if we are to believe "Chef Diallo's" account, things didn't go as planned. The first hitch: Pape Thiaw's team's stay in a hotel in Raleigh, North Carolina, as part of their World Cup preparations, with two matches scheduled against the United States and Saudi Arabia. The kitchen wasn't ready. "The players only eat halal. But what I have here wasn't halal," points out "Chef Diallo." "I was told that meetings would be organized, but I said 'no' because we had expressed our needs two months prior and had been assured that everything would be provided."
The Lions' cook then chose to take "responsibility by deciding to go to the market. For two days, I didn't touch the meat I was given; I only prepared chicken and fish. I used my own money to buy some food to satisfy the players."
After North Carolina, the Lions set up camp in New Jersey, their base for the World Cup. The real work begins. France is Senegal's next target. "Chef Diallo" hopes everything will fall into place and that he can prepare meals tailored to the Lions' needs and requirements. But there's another hitch: during the initial meeting with his assigned team, the Lions' chef learns that the order placed for the Senegalese delegation doesn't match the one he submitted to Maya Fall two months earlier.
“Chef Diallo” called out to her. “She then claimed to have passed the order on to management. This explanation seemed incomprehensible to me. The management members, who were present at the meeting, did not confirm her statement. After a heated exchange, the hotel's head chef informed me that it was impossible to modify the existing order, but that a new order could be placed within two days for delivery before the weekend. I agreed, as the supply market was located in New York, an hour's drive from New Jersey.”
The incomplete races before the scandal
The very next day, another clash erupted between "Chef Diallo" and Maya Fall. Sent out to run errands, she returned with a few groceries. The quantity wasn't enough. The Lions' cook told her to go back to the market for the rest, and, according to her account, he didn't hesitate to throw in her face: "You sabotaged the restaurant business in San Antonio, I won't tolerate that here."
Then came the accusations of sexual harassment. The alleged victim is a Costa Rican-American woman in her forties. Maya Fall had suggested her to "Chef Diallo" as a kitchen assistant. She helped prepare the Lions' snack that day. "After handing the trays to the doctor, I went back to the kitchen to change before returning to my room to pray. Before leaving," the Lions' cook recounts, "I shook hands with the Chinese woman to thank her for her help. As for the woman Maya suggested, I gave her a friendly pat on the back before going to pray."
An hour later, "Chief Diallo" was nearly stunned: "Maya came to confront me, saying: 'The service provider claims that you slapped her on the back and calls this act sexual harassment .' To which I vehemently replied to Maya: 'Damn it .'"
The Lions' cook swears he never harbored any malicious intentions toward his accuser. He claims the allegations that he proposed marriage to her to gain her favor are pure fabrications. And he maintains that the woman only spent about thirty minutes in his kitchen before disappearing, without even filing a complaint against him.
The conspiracy theory
"Chief Diallo" has made up his mind: "This was clearly a premeditated action. For me, Maya is behind all of this."
It was she who came to tell him that his ticket to Senegal was ready. This was the day before the match against France. Faced with the Senegalese cook, who didn't understand what was happening to him, Maya Fall reportedly explained the risks he was taking by remaining on American soil with a sexual harassment accusation hanging over his head. "She just told me, 'Here, this is the United States. If you slap a woman on the back like that, she can sue you for sexual harassment, and the police could show up here.' I replied, 'If the police show up, that's not a problem, I'll talk to them .' She said, 'No, since the national team is playing in 24 hours, the atmosphere could be tainted by this affair . '" I spoke to Abdoulaye Sow (general secretary of the Senegalese Football Federation, editor's note ), he told me: 'You can leave and come back after the match against France' .
That's how "Chief Diallo" boarded the plane to Dakar. His heart heavy and angry with Maya Fall: "All of this was to sabotage Senegal. I'm convinced she was on a mission. And the same mission she had for Senegal, she also had with the Ivory Coast team, which she was also managing. There too, they're talking about sexual harassment."
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