Former Premier Soccer League referee Victor ‘The Principal’ Hlungwani has analysed the controversial moments of the Nedbank Cup final, including both penalties, and Sipho Chaine’s yellow card confusion.
As usual, there were several talking points in Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final, as Orlando Pirates came from behind to beat Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1.
However, referee Skhumbuzo Gasa was in the centre of attention a few times, with Hlungwani insisting he got two of three major calls right – including to award Sundowns an early penalty.
“We see here [Khuliso] Mudau getting into the box and now there is a leg of [Deon] Hotto there, impeding the progress of an opponent,” he said on Soccer Zone.
“Impeding an opponent on it’s own is a direct free-kick offence. Here we see Hotto putting his leg in the patch of Mudau, the referee is in a good position and correctly awarded a penalty.”
Hlungwani then discussed Pirates’ penalty in the second half, which Patrick Maswanganyi slotted home to equalise, saying the referee made a mistake to award it.
“Football is not tennis, where you play alone, [in football] you play with other players,” he continued.
“When there is collusion, players looking for the ball and then they collide, there is no offence committed.
“Here we see, the ball is in the air, Maswanganyi goes in there to Maphosa [Modiba] there. Maphosa behind, they collided. If we say there was a penalty for pushing, where is the push? We can’t find the push.
“If you way there was holding, where is the holding? Because holding must have an impact.
“There is no pushing, no holding that has an impact. It was a normal challenge where play should’ve been allowed to continue. Unfortunately the referee gave a penalty, which was incorrect.”
Finally, there was confusion as to whether Sipho Chaine received two yellow cards, but Hlungwani insisted the Pirates goalkeeper only got booked once.
“We see Modiba been given a yellow card after he protested when Zwane was pushed to the board,” he added.
“As he gets a yellow card, the referee thinks he cannot see my card, I’ll make sure that he see my card.
“It looks like [he’s giving Chaine a yellow as well]. That’s what confused many people. It must not look like, it must be given.
“What we know the yellow card was given to Maphosa and it was recorded as yellow card to Maphosa, not to Chaine.”
