Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has questioned the penalty call made by the referee Victor Gomez against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday.
Amakhosi succumbed to a 4-0 drubbing against the reigning DStv Premiership champions.
Chiefs’ defender Siyabonga Ngezana had an afternoon to forget after gifting a goal to Gaston Sirino when he tried to play a back pass to goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma and later looked to have fouled Peter Shalulile in the 18-area to concede a spot kick.
With that same penalty, the Namibia international opened his account for 2022/23, making it 2-0 for Masandawana.
The Soweto-born mentor admitted to have been outplayed by the star studded Sundowns team but believes the penalty call made against his side was not legitimate.
“We started the game very slow, we were not ourselves judging by the goals we conceded, I think the first goal was ‘manna from heaven’ and the second goal I doubt it was a penalty, I think it was a soft penalty but still we were not ourselves, we were not in the game I think we played the whole 45 minutes without a decent attempt at goals,” the 48-year old told the media.
Furthermore, ‘10111’, as he’s affectionately known, threw his weight behind Ngezana after he struggled to contain Ka Bo Yellow attack.
He suggests that the defender is one of the best centre-backs when it comes to one-on-one situations.
“If you look at how it [mistake] happened, it was early in the game and he couldn’t recover. It’s unlike Siya, he’s one of the best defenders in 1v1 situations.
“For example with the fourth goal we conceded where they played the ball down the line on the left, in those situations you know Siya will come out tops.
“Unfortunately he was not himself, he was not at his best and he had to commit that error that I think also killed his confidence but these things do happen in football.
“I’m not going to kill him because of that, we’ll try and help him to lift his spirit up at training, we move on and we’ll get better with time,” he added.
The Naturena-based side’s next task is against the high-flying Richards Bay United on Saturday.
They have opted to play their home game at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old centre back will keep his position in the starting line-up or he will be dropped to the bench.
