Morocco captain, Romain Saïss complained about the performance of the centre referee after his side lost to South Africa in the round 16 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Tuesday evening.
The Atlas Lions, who were highly tipped to qualify to the quarter-finals, crashed out of the tournament following a 2-0 defeat to South Africa.
Evidence Makgopa drew first blood for South Africa in the 57th minute before Teboho Mokoena sealed the victory with a powerful free-kick in added time.
However, the narrative could have changed if it wasn't for Abde Ezzalzouli’s first-half strike which was ruled out for offside, a decision Romain Saïss was more annoyed of, calling out the refereeing decision.
“I want to understand why the goal we scored in the 30th minute of the first half was ruled out; there was no offside," Saïss told beIN Sports.
“The referee raises the flag, and then they come before the tournaments and talk about refereeing and give us details. But honestly, at some point, we should stop taking people for granted. We see many things change; sometimes they let the play go on, and sometimes they consider it a foul.
“Secondly, I think there were opportunities for us to win, not just the penalty. There were chances in front of the goal and set pieces. We were not effective enough.
“We were punished afterward, and South Africa’s second goal is funny to me because we tried to find the equaliser and pushed forward.
“In any case, it seems that there is room for improvement in this team; we must continue working.”
By: Pascal Amoah
