Former PSL referee Victor Hlungwani has explained why the Video Assistant Referee made the right decisions in Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns’ CAF Champions League semi-final first legs.
The VAR was in action in both of Pirates and Sundowns’ games, ruling out goals for their opponents from Egypt – but, according to Hlungwani, rightfully so.
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The ‘Principal’ first discussed the goal scored by Al Ahly’s Nejc Gradisar, saying it was correctly ruled out after an offside in the build-up.
“Gradisar, when he scores that goal, he received the ball from his teammate who was in an offside position,” he said on SABC’s Soccerzone.
“You can see that there are two players in an offside position, here is the line, clear offside, interfering with play and then Gradisar scored the goal.
“Correct decision to give offside in this situation because the player was offside and he interfered with the goal.”
Hlungwani then looked at Pyramids’ first goal scored by Fiston Mayele, insisting it was correctly ruled out because Mbekezeli Mbokazi was not in control of the ball when he deflected it.
“Mayele scored the goal but there is what we call deliberate play and deflection,” he continued.
“Mayele is in an offside position, now the question is did Mbokazi deliberately play the ball or did it deflect? When you jump you’re not in control of the ball and that happened to Mbokazi – he jumps, he is no longer in control of the ball, so that is deflection and the player is now gaining an advantage by being in that position.
“So correct decision for offside.”
Finally, Hlungwani also explained why Sodiq Awujoola’s late second-half strike was ruled out.
“Even if accidental, football does not accept a goal scored by the hand,” he added.
“So the question is – did the ball touches the players hand or arm? It does touch the hand/arm and after that it goes into the net. Now the law says ‘even if it’s accidental’…
“Referee gives the goal, VAR says ‘hey, you did not see the hand, the ball touched the players hand’. Clearly you can see it touched the hand.”
The second legs of the CAFCL semi-finals take place on Friday in Egypt, with Al Ahly hosting Sundowns at 18:00 (SAST), while Pyramids welcome Pirates at 20:00.
