Gamondi says Sundowns win ‘was a robbery’

Young Africans coach Miguel Gamondi has slammed the officiating in the second leg of the Caf Champions League quarterfinal against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Yanga will understandably feel robbed after they had what looked like a legitimate goal by Aziz Ki denied at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

The game ended goalless and the Brazilians edged the Tanzanian champions 3-2 in the ensuing penalty shootout.

Ronwen Williams saved two spot kicks to drag Masandawana into the semifinals where they will play the winner between Esperance and ASEC Mimosas.

‘It’s very suspicious’

“From the start I want to say a big congratulations to my players. I think they played a fantastic game. We created more clearcut chances than Sundowns,” said Gamondi who was in no mood to discuss the game.

“After this, I don’t want to talk anymore because everybody watched what happened here. If there is somebody here that can tell me it wasn’t a goal, I will argue. Can someone explain to me why the referee can’t go check for himself but he wanted to check if it was a red card or yellow for one of my players.

“It’s very suspicious and if we want to defend the credibility of African football let’s start with this. If you win the game then no problem but only if you win clear. I think people in Tanzania felt that they were robbed. If you tell me ‘no, coach you are wrong it was not a goal’ please let me know.

“I’m not accepting any questions because it was a robbery. If people at Sundowns are happy with this then it’s okay but football is not supposed to be like this. FIFA talks about fair play and today honesty wasn’t here. This is very painful for football and I’m not criticising Sundowns or South African people. I’m criticising the people who worked on VAR for this game. The referee can make mistakes he is a human being but why can’t he go and check for himself.”