Gor Mahia coach Carlos Pinto has cried foul following his club’s elimination from the CAF Confederations Cup on Sunday via to a 3-2 aggregate to Napsa Stars.
The Portuguese coach was not impressed with the officiating from Lesotho referee Martin Lebalang Mokete who awarded Napsa Stars a stoppage time penalty which was converted by AFCON winner Emmanuel Mayuka.
Leading 2-1 in injury time of the match at Lusaka’s Heroes Stadium, Mokete pointed to the spot kick after a Gor Mahia defender hacked down Zambia Under-20 winger Jimmy Mukeya in the 94:15 minute.
“This is not football. My players have families, we worked a lot and we were serious and this happens in football. The referee is not serious,” a visibly upset Pinto said in a post match reaction.
“The referee doesn’t respect the people, the families, the fans…nothing. This is not football.
The fourth official William Koto had indicated four minutes of addition time, the penalty was award 15 seconds later on.
“It’s not only the penalty. Before one minute [Full time], it’s red card to the defender. He is the last man. Before that there was no offside. Three clear situations,” Pinto continued
“And the penalty is after four minutes. There was a lot of situations.
Gor Mahia tried to hit Napsa Stars on the break as the defended deep by putting two defensive blocks.
“We were better than Napsa. We played very well and after the referee do this to us.
This is the first time Napsa Stars is participating in Africa.
Zambia
Well done NAPSA. That was a clear penalty. The For Mania bench cannot mourn over 15 seconds when both teams had the opportunity to utilise that extra time. For NAPSA a fast rather than a slow build up seemed to work but one question is…why play long high balls when you had a taller opponent?
Well done ✅✅✅✅ Napsa even it was tough. U have made Zambia pride.
We await for Nkana now at 21hrs Zambian time
Any losing team always will find a blaming point.
#GONAPSA