Orlando Pirates' coach, Abdelslam Oadu, declined to comment on controversial refereeing decisions that negatively affected his team in the MTN8 tournament final against Mamelodi Sundowns. Instead, he highly praised the professionalism of referee Abongile Toma.
MTN8 Final
Toma served as the main referee when Pirates lost 2-0 to Sundowns at the Moses Mabhida stadium on Saturday. Although both teams entered the match evenly matched, the referee faced serious difficulties due to the high physical demands of the game, which required him to issue numerous yellow cards even in the first half.
In the middle of the second half, Toma came under scrutiny for a controversial penalty awarded to Sundowns. He awarded the penalty, believing that Tapelo Mokobodi had pushed Siyandu Ndlovu inside the penalty area. However, replays showed that Mokobodi committed no foul, and Ndlovu simply stumbled over him while moving. Nevertheless, the penalty was awarded by Toma and scored by Ikraam Reiners. Some Bucs and Ghost fans remained extremely upset and once again called for the implementation of the VAR system.
During the post-match press conference in the World Cup stadium hall, Oadu refused to criticize Toma's officiating. He stated: 'I don't like to touch upon referees' issues because I never talk about referees. It is not my job. Referees are part of the game.'
Nevertheless, Oadu commended the referee, noting that he demonstrated his experience as a FIFA-accredited referee by restoring calm on the field and in the technical stands when the atmosphere heated up at the end of the first half. He emphasized: 'If there is someone who protects the game, it is the person in black in the middle.'
He added that the game started very tensely, and he feared the match would not end if the situation continued at that pace. However, according to Oadu, the referees showed resourcefulness by bringing everyone back to the game they expected to see. 'They spoke to us as coaches. He restored competence. After that, we had a good game. He had the cleverness to stop it because initially, everything wasn't beautiful. There were many bad tackles from both sides.'
Oadu concluded that although it did not meet the fans' expectations for such a fantastic competition, Toma ultimately proved himself to be an experienced and international referee. 'He brought everyone back onto the field, and we saw the end of a beautiful game.'