Gambia U-20 Coach Omar Sise has expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the Libyan referees in his side’s penalty shootout defeat of Morocco.
The officials allowed an off sight goal to stood against the Young Scorpions which leveled the tie 1-1 on aggregate and forced the game into a post-match penalty shootout.
“It was a difficult game, we had our game plan which worked for us until the last 20 minutes when the referee had to give an unnecessary goal which was both an off sight and handball but we knew that one way or the other God would be with us Inshallah because He has always been with us,” Sise told Observer Sport in a post-match interview.
“I respect them because Morocco is a big footballing nation. This is always a sickness for North African countries when you always come here I don’t know whether they buy referees or what. It has to stop because it’s not good. This is football, its one language and fair play. When they came to The Gambia, the referee played very well but here they played as if they were with them.”
Commenting on the referee’s decision to order Pa Omar Babou to retake his spot kick, Sise said it was all an attempt to frustrate them, noting that there was nothing wrong with his initial kick. “Pa Omar believed in himself and he retook it and scored and Alhamdullilah we won.”
Guinea game
The Gambia will now play Guinea Conakry in a double header next month for a place in the Zambia finals and commenting on that game, Sise said the hard work starts right from the moment Mbye Faye scored the winning penalty.
He also thanked the large contingent of the Gambian community, headed by Ambassador Kebba S. Touray, who came to the Stadium to support the boys. “I thank the fans for their commitment because it isn’t easy to leave everything behind and come here so we know that we have a community here and we really appreciate it,” he added.
“For the people, who were saying that when we come to Morocco we were going to lose, this was there problem but it was never my problem because I know football you have your strategy and your opponent has his own strategy.”
The Gambian team arrived home in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday) on board the Royal Air Maroc flight. The first leg of the third round will be played in Banjul in the weekend of July 8 to 10 with the return leg in Conakry on the 22nd to 24th July.
by Baboucarr Camara
in Rabat, Morocco