The head referee who officiated the AFCON 2019 qualifying match between
Bafana Bafana and Nigeria on Saturday in South Africa, has reportedly
apologised for the costly mistakes made by officials during the game.
The Gambian football referee identified as Bakary Papa Gassama
apologised to the Nigerian team after wrongly denying them two goals due
to wrong offside calls.
According to a report by OwnGoalNigeria, Ahmed Musa put through Kelechi
Iheanacho who tapped home believing he has given Nigeria the lead but
Musa who supplied the pass was judged by the assistant referee as been
in an offside position, something which turned out to be wrong after
video replays.
In the second half with less than five minutes to
go, Musa was once again at the receiving end of another poor referee
decision as he was once again flagged offside incorrectly after slotting
home what could have given Nigeria all three points.
The game
ended 1-1 with Nigeria sealing her passage to next year Africa Cup of
Nations but officials of the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) still
expressed their unhappiness to Gassama over the poor decision which cost
Nigeria a win.
Gassama admitted the error and even went a step
further by sending his apologies to Musa over the incident although he
admitted that such errors are sometimes unavoidable particularly due to
the non-availability of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
