Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi vented his anger at referee Thando Ndzanzeka as he feels he decided the outcome of their match against Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium.
Sundowns lost the match 2-1 during a drama-filled clash on Saturday. Mngqithi said Ndzandzeka missed an infringement by Alfred Ndengane, who was climbing on top of Sundowns defender Thapelo Morena when he headed home the equaliser after Peter Shalulile had given them a lead.
TV replays showed that the goal should have been disallowed as that was a foul, but Ndzandzeka allowed it to stand. The controversy didn’t end there as the referee awarded Maritzburg a late penalty to score a winner.
This was after Sundowns goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene was adjudged to have hacked Amadou Soukouna, while replays showed the attacker dived.
That left Mngqithi frustrated as he believes their only two defeats this season were decided by officials.
“The only sad thing is that we have lost our second match this season and both of them were because of dubious decisions. The first loss to AmaZulu was clear offside,” Mngqithi told the club’s media department.
“The second loss now to Maritzburg, the first goal Ndengane is climbing on top of Thapelo in the view of the referee, not that the official was impeded and he could not see. He could see what was happening in front of him. That was the equaliser and then from there, there was a penalty before Kennedy even made a tackle and it resulted in a spot-kick and we lost the match like that.
“Now you are saying to yourself, we have to lose matches because of the decisions of the referees, or do we have to lose games because we are not doing what we are supposed to do? We take the blame for not scoring goals that we created, but on the other side, we are saying no man let’s not turn the PSL into a banana league.”
Despite the controversy, the 50-year-old also feels they let themselves down by not scoring the chances they created, including the penalty missed by Themba Zwane.
“It’s very unfortunate. I think we had a very dominant performance. We created far too many chances to win the match. We must blame ourselves for the chances we didn’t take because the truth of the matter is we should have taken those chances. There were far too many, but when you don’t convert them, you get punished.”
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Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi vented his anger at referee Thando Ndzanzeka as he feels he decided the outcome of their match against Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium.
Sundowns lost the match 2-1 during a drama-filled clash on Saturday. Mngqithi said Ndzandzeka missed an infringement by Alfred Ndengane, who was climbing on top of Sundowns defender Thapelo Morena when he headed home the equaliser after Peter Shalulile had given them a lead.
TV replays showed that the goal should have been disallowed as that was a foul, but Ndzandzeka allowed it to stand. The controversy didn’t end there as the referee awarded Maritzburg a late penalty to score a winner.
This was after Sundowns goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene was adjudged to have hacked Amadou Soukouna, while replays showed the attacker dived.
That left Mngqithi frustrated as he believes their only two defeats this season were decided by officials.
“The only sad thing is that we have lost our second match this season and both of them were because of dubious decisions. The first loss to AmaZulu was clear offside,” Mngqithi told the club’s media department.
“The second loss now to Maritzburg, the first goal Ndengane is climbing on top of Thapelo in the view of the referee, not that the official was impeded and he could not see. He could see what was happening in front of him. That was the equaliser and then from there, there was a penalty before Kennedy even made a tackle and it resulted in a spot-kick and we lost the match like that.
“Now you are saying to yourself, we have to lose matches because of the decisions of the referees, or do we have to lose games because we are not doing what we are supposed to do? We take the blame for not scoring goals that we created, but on the other side, we are saying no man let’s not turn the PSL into a banana league.”
Despite the controversy, the 50-year-old also feels they let themselves down by not scoring the chances they created, including the penalty missed by Themba Zwane.
“It’s very unfortunate. I think we had a very dominant performance. We created far too many chances to win the match. We must blame ourselves for the chances we didn’t take because the truth of the matter is we should have taken those chances. There were far too many, but when you don’t convert them, you get punished.”
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