It was all in the favour of Bafana Bafana to proceed to the next stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, in Sunday’s away fixture against Ghana but a questionable penalty became their undoing.
Was this penalty against Bafana Bafana a bad call by the ref?
It all unfolded in the 31st minute when Hugo Broos‘ men, seemingly under pressure from an attack-intensive approach from their opponents, had to defend a corner kick.
A penalty was given to Ghana after Daniel Amartey dramatically fell to the ground from an apparent tug by Rushine De Reuck.
Match referee Ndiaye Maguette stood within close proximity to the incident and had a clear view. His decision was that De Reuck had impeded on Amartey, who had space to register a shot at goal.
De Reuck received a yellow card and despite a few scuppered attempts from South Africa’s national football team, the match ended in a 0-0 loss and an end to a promising World Cup qualifier campaign.
Here is a replay of the questionable penalty.
Ghana make it to the World Cup play-offs thanks to this penalty decision and a 1-0 win over South Africa.
— Sanny Rudravajhala (@SannyR1985) November 14, 2021
Wow. Just wow. 🤯#BlackStars #GHARSA #WCQ2022pic.twitter.com/Oxlda3kwhu
SAFA prepared to challenge Ghana match outcome
After the game, Bafana Bafana coach Broos lambasted the referee who, in his view, “allowed Ghana to be too aggressive.”
Responding to questions about the penalty, Broos said he could not tell what was going on in the penalty box, from his technical area.
“I just saw Daniel Amartey go down. He went down many times during the game, but I didn’t see the incident. But I saw my players were surprised,” he said.
Amid growing calls from South Africa’s football fraternity for a review of the referee’s decision, SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe confirmed, on Monday, that a decision has been made to take the matter up with FIFA and CAF.
“The association has decided to lodge a formal complaint, so that the conduct of the match officials are closely investigated by both FIFA and CAF. But, we will be having a press conference where we will be telling the nation what will happen going forward,” Motlanthe said.
As things stand, Bafana Bafana are out of the running to feature in Qatar, in 2022.
