SAFA Head of Referees Abdul Ebrahim has praised the performances of Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela at the African Cup of Nations, saying Gomes handled the situation with Mohamed Salah perfectly.
The PSL match official and his South African assistant referee, along with Souru Phatsoane of Lesotho were in charge of the African Cup of Nations final and have widely received positive feedback so far.
One incident in particular stood out when Gomes offered Egypt captain and Liverpool superstar Salah his cards and whistle after he continuously complained about his decisions – with a picture of the scene trending worldwide.
Ebrahim insisted Gomes had to put his foot down in that moment and his special measures actually had the desired effect.
“As much as the players argue, they want to argue their point on the field of play,” he told iDiski Times exclusively.
“It’s a matter of knowing how to deal with any player. In this instance, it was Mo Salah and it was a time in the game where Victor needed to be strong and he dealt with the player – I’m saying player and I’m not saying Mo Salah, he dealt with the matter in a strong manner.
“It’s like a matter of saying ‘stop moaning, do you want to take the whistle?’
“If you look at it, Mo Salah actually backed off. This is what I said, this is what sets Victor apart, he’s got this personality and he just knows how to deal with people.
“At the end of the day, there was no hostility towards any of the match officials from any quarter, everybody was happy with their performances.
“If you read the news worldwide, everyone was happy with Victor’s performance and that was just a fun moment. Victor was just letting Mo Salah know, sir no matter how great you are in world football, you have to function within the framework of the law and that was it.”
Ebrahim also gave his South African referees full marks for their performances in Cameroon, saying they made the Association and country proud.
“On the technicalities, on the laws of the game, as I assess it myself, they had a very, very good performance,” he added.
“Not just the management of the game, you also look at the management of the players. Victor got this amazing personality, he got this skill that just sets him apart from everyone else.
“If you think of it, we had Africa’s finest on display and you don’t find them better than Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, these are massive players on the world stage.
“He looked so very comfortable in that game, both him and his assistant referees, they managed every aspect of the game so very well.
“We are just extremely of them. We are extremely proud of a thorough performance by two match officials from South Africa, with the third one being from Lesotho from the COSAFA region.”
Story by David Kappel (@kappilinho).
