South Africa lodge official complaint against Senegalese referee Maguette N’Diaye over ‘dubious’ penalty for Ghana

South Africa feels its 2022 World Cup dream was ended with a dubious penalty decision against Ghana on Sunday night.

In what was a final Group G clash, the Black Stars needed home victory while South Africa needed at least a draw to finish as group winners.

The match was decided by a superb Andre Ayew penalty in the 31st minute. However, the referee’s decision to award the penalty is rather questionable.

A cross came into South Africa’s box towards Daniel Amartey, who, with hardly a touch from the challenging defender, Rushine de Reuck, flew to the ground to win a spot-kick.

Replays of the incident suggested there was minimal contact between the two players and SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has confirmed that the incident was immediately reported to the match commissioner.

“Yes, I can confirm that we acted immediately by registering [a complaint] with the match commissioner last night,” Motlanthe told Kickoff.com.

“The penalty issue, from where I was seated, it didn’t look legit. It is sad that referees decide the games at this level.

“Having seen what the team went through it is disheartening and we salute the Technical Team and the players for showing the fighting spirit despite the match officials’ conduct.”

The incident has thus demanded FIFA’s intervention to investigate a corruption case against the Senegalese referee Maguette N’Diaye.

Meanwhile, the 1-0 result helped the Black Stars to progress to the final round of CAF’s 2020 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

It is now reported that South Africa will contact higher authorities to investigate a corruption complaint.