ZIFA has lodged an official complaint with the Confederation of African Football (Caf) over the conduct of Burundian referee, Suavis Iratunga in the Africa Women Cup of Nations Group A match between Zimbabwe and Egypt.
KEVIN MAPASURE
Iratunga disallowed what seemed a legitimate Felistas Muzongondi equaliser six minutes before full-time.
While most people who watched the match on television were left with the belief that the goal was ruled out for offside, it emerged that the match official blew for an infringement on the Egyptian goalkeeper and yet there was no contact between her and the Zimbabwean players.
Muzongondi was not offside when the ball was flighted into the penalty box either.
Yesterday, Zifa president, Philip Chiyangwa wrote to the referees, management at the Caf headquarters in Egypt.
“We would like to register our official complaint over the conduct of Burundi referee, Suavis Iratunga in the Group A match between Zimbabwe and Egypt at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (sic) at the Stade de Yaounde in Cameroon on November 22,” reads Chiyangwa’s letter. We believe the referee made a number of biased decisions against Zimbabwe and in particular her decision in the 84th minute to disallow the goal by Zimbabwe player Felistas Muzongondi. “That denied goal resulted in Zimbabwe losing a game, which they could have come out with at least a point, as it would have made scores 1-1. We trust that while the result of the game may not be altered, justice will be seen to be done, as the decision of referee Suavis Iratunga affected the qualification chances of our team in Group A.”
Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying to the next stage were heavily dented, as they now have to beat Cameroon by a wide margin to entertain any hopes of joining the hosts in the semi-finals.
