Middendorp reacts to controversial penalty call in match against Sundowns
Cape Town Spurs coach Ernst Middendorp has responded to the controversial penalty awarded to Mamelodi Sundowns in a DStv Premiership tie at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night.
Sundowns beat CT Spurs 1-0 as Lucas Ribeiro scored the all-important goal via a penalty to hand Rulani Mokwena the three points.
As things stand, the Urban Warriors are still languishing at the basement of the log standings with 12 points from 23 outings, whereas Bafana Ba Style opened up a 13-point gap at the summit.
In the 41st minute of the showdown, Sundowns were awarded a penalty after Asenele Velebayi committed a foul against Peter Shalulile, which seemed to have happened outside the box.
Lucas Ribeiro stood up and made no mistake as he converted the penalty in the 42nd minute. The Brazilian footballer is now topping the DStv Premiership goalscoring charts with 11 goals.
ERNST MIDDENDORP ON MAMELODI SUNDOWNS PENALTY
Despite the German mentor not so sure whether the foul happened inside or outside the box, he revealed what he heard from the assistant referee and the fourth official.
“I think the result of course is probably what everybody expected, let’s take it from their side. We thought to ourselves to provide a surprise and thinking about the different structure we put in place comparing to our last games,” said Middendorp.
“It was differently necessary knowing that you playing against Sundowns not a mediocre team and probably the future champions of the Champions League in Africa.
“But of course, it’s always something if this game is decided by a penalty. I don’t know whether it was inside or outside because I haven’t seen it [reviewed it]. But I only know that the linesman was not really convinced about the referee’s decision [that the foul happened inside the box]. I also heard the fourth referee saying that he was obviously convinced it was outside.”
MIDDENDORP RUES OPPORTUNITY MISSED
Middendorp went on to state that his side had scoring opportunities but couldn’t make use of them.
“Anyway, we had opportunities to score and make it happen, but that’s part of the game. The results is not really what we were expecting.
“From the performance side with a new set-up, we just had two training sessions to implement it. So far from the quality, is very good because if you have to chase a game from one goal down, you try to keep the shape and distance to each other and follow the principles and be able to produce some opportunities.
“That’s something I think you can talk about on an individual basis that you have certain qualities within the team.”
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