Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi was livid after his team’s controversial 1-0 loss to Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday night.
Mngqithi is convinced that Amakhosi benefitted from a goal that should have been disallowed, arguing that the goalscorer, Aden McCarthy, was in an offside position when he happily rolled the ball into the net.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns mentor blamed the lack of video assistant referee (VAR) in the Premier Soccer League for the goal, lashing out that they lost against the laws of the game.
Nonetheless, it was a fantastic game of flowing football, with the two teams evenly matched throughout the 90 minutes.
Hunt for league honours still on track
Although Chiefs had better chances and created many scoring opportunities, Arrows cannot be faulted for believing that they at least deserved a point in the match.
Chiefs defender McCarthy, who was seemingly in an offside position, connected to a set piece and scored the controversial goal.
It was the two clubs’ first match in the new year, and Chiefs’ win has brought them back in the hunt for league honours.
Chiefs are now occupying the third spot, trailing log leaders Sundowns by two points and second-placed Orlando Pirates by a point.
However, Mngqithi was not impressed with the outcome of the match and the continued absence of VAR in local football.
An enraged Mngqithi told Supersport TV after the match: “The PSL will continue to face issues as long as the problem of VAR remains unaddressed. The stakes are very high; we work very hard to build our teams.
“If you want to see that the Chiefs’ goal was offside, just wait for the touch, and you will see that Aden McCarthy was offside—you lose the game, and nobody cares; they say you lost because you did not defend well.”
Mngqithi pleased with his players
He explained that the league must make a significant effort to acquire refereeing technology, stating: “The reality is that the league must work very hard on implementing this VAR system.”
“The game has become too dynamic for us to keep up with. It’s the game that should tell us that it is too difficult for the match officials to follow and track the runs of players.
“I cannot always blame the officials; the game demands that we must respond to that—we are not playing for R500 000, we are playing for R20-million, so we should be considering VAR; otherwise, we will keep on losing matches like this, and people will be okay with it.
“We had to respond to Chiefs, who were overloading our last line with five players, and I believe we managed that situation very well.
“I am pleased with the boys’ performance, and I think they played very well. We lost via an offside goal, and it does not make me feel good.
“When you lose matches, people sing like this [referring to Chiefs fans who were celebrating] because they have won the match. We only lost the match against the laws of the game,” he added.
