Ghana win was shrouded by questionable officiating when they qualified ahead of South Africa on goal advantage Sunday night. There are very divergent reflections on the game. Most of these are not much about the quality of the game nor the standard of African football but are all about how the game was decided.

Monday | November 15, 2021

Ghana beat South Africa (SA) by 1-0 at Cape Coast Sports Stadium last night to progress to the knock-out stage of the FIFA (Federation of International Football Association) World Cup qualification to hosted by Qatar next year.

SA needed a draw to make it to the playoffs but the Black Stars were too strong in their home turf on Sunday, Nov. 14. The game was to close to call and Ghana helped themselves to a dubious penalty to pull through.

The man in the middle

The match referee Maguuette Ndiaye gave a penalty when Rivaldo Coetzee, Bafana Bafana center back, was judged to have held back Ghana player who tumbled to the ground spectacularly after an apparent soft contact. The Senegalese match official fell for it and pointed to the spot to the chagrin of South Africans.

Although the former SA international Doctor Khumalo said our players showed too much respect the Ghanaians when he spoke to SABC, he emphased that the penalty was too “soft”. However, the majority of the goal-scoring opportunities were in favour of the host due to their dominance on ball possession and aggression except in the dying minutes of the clash.

Group G ended with both Ghana and South Africa on 13 points. The former powers ahead with a better goal difference. They will meet other group winners in the play offs where only five nationals teams will represent Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup edition in Qatar.