Ghana Coach berates officiating after loss to Portugal
Coach Otto Addo of Ghana has berated the officiating in Ghana’s narrow loss to Portugal in their opening game of Qatar World Cup.
Specifically, Addo fumed at the decision to award Portugal a penalty which led to their first goal saying: “I don’t know if the VAR wasn’t paying attention
Ghana, who had held the Portuguese throughout first and second quarter of the game were furious with the awarding of the 65th-minute penalty for Mohammed Salisu’s challenge on Ronaldo.
That Salisu was penalised for his challenge on Ronaldo, despite appearing to touch the ball before the player, Addo said “I don’t know what they were doing, I don’t know whether the VAR wasn’t paying attention.
While Andrew Ayew would later scored a leveler in the 73rd minutes as he tapped in a cross, the Portuguese regained the lead back with strikes from Joao Felix and Rafael Leo.
Portugal’s resolve was later put to a daunting test in the final minutes when Osman Bukari reduced the deficit and eventually have the game ended with five goal thriller- all scored in the second half.
“I think you’d have to ask the referee. I have no proof of that, but we were playing the ball, then there was a contact” said the Coach when he was asked whether Ronaldo was lucky to have benefited from that decision.
“If I look at that moment, it’s incredible. If you look at a replay, we played the ball. It was actually a foul against us.
“The game was hectic, we made a few mistakes to allow the second and third goals, opening the lines for them to pass it. It was a little bit unlucky.
“With a bit of luck, we could have got one point. The referee was not in our favour. In my view, our yellow cards were deserved, but for me, holding jerseys is also a yellow card. I don’t know what was wrong, but he was really not in our favour.
“I asked some people from FIFA if I could talk briefly to the referee in a calm and quiet way, but they said he is in a meeting and it’s not possible.
“I think they have match analysis, so it’s the truth, but surely you can have some minutes for the coach.”
Ghana will be hoping for a redemption when they face South Korea in their next group stage match on Monday after which they will meet Uruguay in what’s likely going to be a replay of their 2010 World Cup quarter final clash.
