REFEREE FROM HELL

2311-1-1-REFEREE FROM HELL

Petros Kausiyo in Harare and Grace Chingoma in Yaoundé, Cameroon—

FURIOUS ZIFA have protested to the Confederation of African Football following the diabolical match officiating by Burundi referee Suavis Iratunga that left the Mighty Warriors tearful and cost them a chance to at least grab a point from their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tie against Egypt in Yaoundé on Tuesday night.ZIFA yesterday led the chorus of condemnation against Iratunga who somehow conspired with her first assistant Kossonoux Akoua of Cote d’Ivoire to deny midfielder Felistas “Figo” Muzongondi’s goal that would have drawn Zimbabwe level, just two minutes after the Egyptians had surged ahead through Salma Ahmed who prodded home a low cross from the right in the 82nd minute.

That controversial 1-0 win, achieved with the help of a referee plucked from hell, handed the Lady Pharaohs their first ever win at the final tournament and thrust them back into serious contention for a place in the semi-finals while complicating the Mighty Warriors chances.

Egypt had lost their opening game 2-0 to hosts Cameroon in their opening game.

ZIFA — as the custodians of the national game — were naturally not amused with the manner in which Iratunga conducted herself throughout the match and yesterday the association’s president Philip Chiyangwa wrote to CAF to complain.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to register our official complaint over the conduct of Burundi referee Suavis Iratunga in the Group A match between Zimbabwe and Egypt at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations at the Stade de Yaoundé in Cameroon on November 22, 2016.

“We believe the referee made a number of biased decisions against Zimbabwe and in particular her decision in the 84th minute to disallow for offside the goal by Zimbabwe player Felistas Muzongondi.

“That denied goal resulted in Zimbabwe losing a game which they could have come out with at least a point as it would have made the scores 1-1.

“We believe that your esteemed office has a way to review the performances of match officials and conduct of teams and kindly ask that you do the same with the match official in the above-mentioned game.

“We trust that while the result of the game may not be altered justice will be seen to be done as the decision of referee Suavis Iratunga affected the qualification chances of our team in Group A,’’ read part of Chiyangwa’s letter.

CAF appear to have of late adopted That CAF has adopted zero tolerance on poor performance and only on Tuesday, the continental body announced a raft of sanctions on match officials who poorly handled 2018 World Cup qualifying games.

The continental body is also expected to act on Iratunga whose conduct cast a shadow on otherwise entertaining game between the Mighty Warriors sand the Lady Pharaohs.

A tearful Muzongondi said she had been hurt by the referee’s decision to deny her goal.

The former captain struggled to contain her emotions as she could not believe the decision by the Burundi referee after Zimbabwe had scored an 84th minute equaliser when they hit back immediately after conceding to the Egyptians.

“It was such a disappointing thing, it’s poor officiating from the referees. I wasn’t expecting that. Even up to now, I still cannot believe that l said to be offside.

“Even after watching the video, I am still convinced that I was on side. It’s disturbing when you find such a chance and you get to score, then it’s ruled offside, you become worried,” Muzongondi said.

The midfielder who had come on as substitute made a deep run on the blind side benefitted from some poor piece of defending by the Egyptians to ghost in from the blind side and score for Zimbabwe.

“There was an Egyptian player just in front of me and she didn’t manage to clear that’s why I went for the ball. I didn’t even get in contact with the goalkeeper,’’ said Muzongondi.

The former Mwenezana forward, however, said the Mighty Warriors would not drop their heads despite the shameful refereeing they had witnessed.

“We still have chances to play in the semis, that is, if we focus and concentrate on the match. We don’t know what will happen to other teams on the day,” she said.

Muzongondi was introduced in the 63rd minute as a replacement for skipper Talent Mandaza and she immediately brought urgency into the Zimbabwe attack.

Zimbabweans also took to social media to condemn the Burundi referee with many noting that “It is the referee and not Egypt who beat Zimbabwe’’.

ZIFA Northern Region board member Sweeney Mushonga also urged CAF to seriously review the conduct of the match official.

“With the advent of technology, football must be seen embracing all forms of systems which enhance Fair Play, like what’s being witnessed in other sporting codes.

“It cannot start and end with goalline technology, the disallowed goal must have been quickly reviewed and correct action exercised.

The notion the match officials will be heavily sanctioned is not good enough.

“Football officiating must move with times and use all technologies available and not be left to the whims of sometimes dishonourable officials, who will put our beautiful game into disrepute,” said Mushonga.

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