Black Stars Head Coach Carlos Queiroz did not take kindly the refereeing decision that resulted in the second goal by Cote d’Ivoire in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Thursday.
He described that decision as a joke.
“That penalty is a joke. I just saw it on television,” he said at the post-match conference.
“For those of you who can see it on television, it is a joke.”
The Portuguese manager explained that it’s less difficult when a team fights from 1-0 down than 2-0 down and that is what he believes the referee made the game for Ghana.
The former Portugal coach also explained that his criticism of the decision is not bias against his opponents, whom he admitted played very well.
“First of all, I would like to say in front of the people of Cote d’Ivoire that my comment about the mistake of the referee has nothing to do with Cote d’Ivoire,” he clarified.
“It has nothing to do with the merit or the quality of the players of Cote d’Ivoire.
“They played, did their job and we did our job too. But of course, to recover from 1-0 down is completely different from recovering from 2-0 down. The game was tight as always.”
Carlos Queiroz wants Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) introduced in the qualifiers as they hold an important place in the scheme of football on the continent.
“Why don’t we have VAR in an Africa Cup of Nations competition? Which example do we want to give to the world? The Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are for the biggest competition on the continent, and we don’t have VAR to help the referee make the game fair.”
Ghana lost 0-2 to the Ivorians and return to Accra to face The Gambia in the second game of the campaign.
