Safa to lodge official complaint over referees after World Cup exit

The South African Football Association will be writing to the Confederation of African Football and Fifa to demand an investigation into the performance of Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye and his two Senegalese assistant referees Djibril Camara and Daouda Gueye in Bafana Bafana’s heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Ghana in their Group G Fifa World Cup qualifier at Cape Coast Stadium on Sunday.

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Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe confirmed this on Monday, adding that the association want the match replayed. The Safa CEO referred to a 2016 game between South Africa and Senegal in qualifying for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, where following a complaint from Senegal following a 2-1 defeat, Fifa ordered the game to be replayed, after referee Joseph Lamptey was found guilty of ‘match manipulation’ and handed a lifetime ban.

The Safa complaint will no doubt centre around Ndiaye’s decision to award Ghana what proved the winning penalty in a 1-0 victory on Sunday, and meant the Black Stars, and not Bafana, made it into the final round of 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying.

Ghana midfielder Daniel Amartey went down dramatically in the penalty area under little to no contact from Bafana defender Rushine De Reuck.

“From our heart … the match officials have decided the game,” said Motlanthe.

“This is not what is supposed to happen, so we have decided we will be writing to Caf and Fifa to investigate how the game was handled and to challenge some decisions.

“We have already registered with the match commissioner that we will be writing a formal complaint. (It will be) supported by all the evidence that was there today that the game was manipulated or that the referees did something wrong. We are disturbed by these actions and we can’t let it disturb the players when we have a chance to challenge it.

“We feel very robbed, it is not the isolated incident of a penalty, there were a lot of questionable decisions. We will get an expert to dissect the incidents and make a strong case, looking at the precedent Fifa set, but ordering us to replay Senegal. Justice needs to be served, with the same decision taken for the Ghana game.”