Following today’s press conference at SAFA house, one of Bafana Bafana’s brightest young stars Ethan Brooks had an opportunity to voice his thoughts on the events that went on during the do-or-die 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ghana at the Cape Coast Stadium last Sunday.
The South African team felt undone by very poor officiating by Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye and his assistants throughout the match and not just for the dubious penalty awarded to Ghana.
In the 33rd-minute, the infamous incident between Rushine De Reuck and Daniel Amartey resulted in Ghanaian captain, Andre Ayew, calmly slotting past Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams that ultimately saw the Black Stars top the group despite South Africa coming into the clash three points ahead of Ghana on 13 points after five games and boasting the tightest defence in Group G.
“I just like to say on being one of the youngest in the group, I’m glad I’ve been a part of this group, glad to look up to these guys.
In terms of the game, we went out there with confidence like our coach (Hugo Broos) did mention, we should go out there with confidence to win our duels.
Being one of the youngest and smallest in our midfield, I did make sure that I went out there, did my best and did compete in every duel, so it just felt like with every duel that I did go in, the referee just turned his head the other way and you know for me, it’s not nice to see that after giving my all. Like I said, this is a good bunch of players I’ve been with and it hurts to, you know, go out like this, but we learn and grow from this.”