After a night of crushing controversy in Agadir in Morocco, Bafana Bafana’s Hugo Broos is demanding answers.
South Africa’s hopes at the Africa Nations Cup were dealt a severe blow in a 1-0 defeat to Egypt, a result forever marred by a second-half Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervention that overturned a potential equalising penalty.
An incandescent Broos did not hold back, labelling the decision “ridiculous” and revealing that even match-winner Mohamed Salah agreed.
In a stunning post-match tirade, the coach dissected the “supporting arm” rule that cost his team, asking the question now echoing across the continent: in the quest for perfection, has football lost its soul to a screen?
Salah scored from the penalty spot, and later in the game, Bafana thought they would have had an opportunity to level matters against 10-man Egypt.
Whistle man Pacifique Ndabihawenimana had initially pointed to the spot after defender Yasser Ibrahim handled the ball inside the box, but to the dismay of the South Africans, the VAR overturned the decision.
“The first is ridiculous; even Mo Salah said to me after the game that he was surprised that it was a penalty, and the second was a real penalty because the arm was extended on the body and the ball hit the arm,” Broos said during a post-match press conference.
“It was ridiculous!”
“In the (pre-tournament) meeting, they said if the arm is extended away from the body, it is a penalty.
“But then suddenly, there’s a rule of a supporting arm. What is a supporting arm? Who invented this supporting arm? His arm was extended, and it hit his arm.
“So, again, there are so many rules now for this, no penalty or a penalty, that people don’t know anymore what to decide.”
Broos also got an opportunity to analyse the game and said the controversial decisions will motivate them heading into their next and final group stage game against Zimbabwe on Monday.
“OK, they were one man less, but we dominated them for 45 minutes (in the second half).
“In that moment, you need a little bit of luck with the ball falling (favourably) or that the shot is good. We didn’t have that luck.”
“Okay, we lost the game today (on Friday), but there is still another game, and after what happened here today on the pitch, certainly the decisions that were made will motivate us to give 200% to win the game against Zimbabwe on Monday.”
To avoid any complications and take out calculators, Bafana must win to book their place in the Round of 16 of the tournament.
