Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi believes nothing is being done against match officials who continue to make poor decisions in domestic football.
Mngqithi was speaking after Sundowns 3-0 defeat by Orlando Pirates in the second leg of the MTN8 semifinal on Saturday in Polokwane.
The defending champions were booted out on a 3-0 aggregate score following a goalless draw in the first leg played in Soweto several weeks ago.
Pirates took an early lead through ex-Downs forward Kermit Erasmus. But it was the assist by Monnapule Saleng that had clearly gone off the line; pitch that caused a stir.
Mngqithi believes the wrong decision by the match officials had an impact on the result of the match.
“Have you ever seen a player scoring a goal, taking a shirt off and not getting a yellow card? Have you ever seen anything like that? Mngqithi asked journalists referring to Erasmus’s goal celebrations.
“Have you ever seen a ball getting outside of the line and the linesman is five meters away from the line but he does not see that the ball went out of the line?
“Those were situations that did not sit well with us because one small mistake against us it’s a foul, it’s a yellow card, it’s this, it’s a red card.
MNGQITHI’S FRUSTRATIONS
The Sundowns coach went to plead with the SA Football Association to better the standard of officiating in the country.
“But you look what happened in the match, it’s clear what is happening,” he added.
“And everybody who watches football can see what is happening in the PSL, and SAFA is not doing enough to improve what is happening in the PSL and looking at the games of other teams, not only Sundowns.
“In all the matches, there is a lot of poor decision making from the referees, very poor, substandard but when you talk about these things the next thing you are facing wreath of the disciplinary committee of the PSL.
“But you journalists you are not putting forward, put these clips in front, show the offsides that people are surviving on because that is what is happening.”
LACK OF CONSISTENCY
“I am not saying the referees are cheating I just feel sometimes the level of competence is not at the level that is expected. It only becomes worse when I see senior referees consistently do the same thing.
“We are talking about things that happened in the match that the referees if they also come to press conferences like these and they answer, what does the law say in situations like these? Then we will understand whether the coaches are mad or what.
“This is our bread and butter. This is what we leave on, we prepare teams so that we come into this stage to compete fairly.”
