Victor Gomes praised by SAFA

                          Photo by Reuters 

SAFA Head of Referees Abdul Ebrahim has praised Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela who were part of the Africa Cup of Nations final officials.

In what was tagged by many as one of the best Africa Cup of Nations finals ever that saw Senegal triumphing over Egypt had challenging moments for Gomes.

Gomes became the first South African referee to officiate the AFCON final and had an incident that went viral globally when he offered his whistle and cards to a complaining Mohamed Salah to officiate.

"We were more than just impressed we were happy and were extremely proud," Ebrahim tells KickOff.

"Watching the game it was just amazing to see how professional they were.

"I mean Senegal versus Egypt is a massive game on the African continent.

"It requires match officials that have a big match temperament. I don't think this Afcon final could have asked for more.

"This was a very, very big appointment for South Africa, it was a very big appointment for Cosafa as well. So we are very proud of the boys and the way they have performed, it was excellent.

"When we criticise our match officials in South Africa, we criticise them not bearing knowledge of what it is that they do.

"So when we start getting that right, when we understand the laws of the game, when we understand how the referees are applying it, then we will get a better understanding of how good our match officials actually are.

"We've got 18 match officials on the international panel, we've got two match officials in the Futsal.

"We look at what we perceive as a small mistake, and we try to blow it out of proportion, and we have no technical understanding of the laws of the game.

"I can tell you our match officials in South Africa are very good. No one criticises these players when they don't perform. But people always criticise referees when they think referees are not performing.

"Our referees in South Africa now know, that with Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela doing the final, the possibilities for them are endless.

"The doors have always been open, I mean we go back to 1994 I think, Petrus Mathabela did the 3rd/4th place play-off at the Afcon.

"In 2008 Jerome Damon did the 3rd/4th place play-off, involving Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire in Ghana. Enock Molefe also in the same year was the assistant referee in the final."

By Sinethemba Sithole