Not satisfied with drawing the Super Eagles in Moronvia on Saturday, Liberians have alleged that poor officiating by the centre referee cost the Lone Stars a victory over the Nigerian squad.
Reports in the Liberian media revealed this much between Sunday and Monday, with a special report celebrating the Lone Stars' performance in the Liberian Observer hinting that Malian centre referee Koman Coulibaly the Eagles' '12th player'.
The report pointed at what it termed as controversial calls by the referee as reasons for this allegation. The report recalled some of Coulibaly's wrong calls during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and noted that he was the wrong man for the job of the center referee in the Moronvia encounter.
The reported noted: "In the crucial moments that mattered, Coulibaly awarded a penalty to the then briefly rampaging Super Eagles but refused to call a similar award to the Lone Stars when the tide changed. So when the Eagles scored their spot kick, Liberia’s Lone Star had no penalty to balance the equation.
"...His poor performance proved that he was a man of controversy. There are people who glory in uncertainty and there are still others who rejoice in the suffering and disappointment of others. Sadly, the world is like that.
"Koman Coulibaly was in South Africa (2010 World Cup). He handled the match between Slovenia and the United States. In that match, like last Saturday’s game, Koman Coulibaly made some questionable calls, and non-calls. As a result, FIFA dropped Koman Coulibaly from the rest of the tournament. His unprofessional handling of the game caused the United States to lose the match.
"With such a character, how could FIFA assign him to handle such an important match against the Super Eagles? It was no wonder that he called for a spot kick for Nigeria and refused to call for a similar spot kick for Liberia."
No comments:
Post a Comment