Bafana Bafana legend Delron Buckley says South Africa were ‘playing against 12 men’ after poor officiating dashed their World Cup qualification hopes in the 1-0 defeat to Ghana.
South Africa needed to draw or win but were denied by a dubious decision from Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye to award the Black Stars a penalty, which Andre Ayew converted to end Bafana’s journey to Qatar 2022.
Buckley has joined coach Hugo Broos, Bafana legend Steven Pienaar in lambasting the officiating, while the South African Football Association have also lodged a complaint with FIFA and CAF.
“You see it clearly, that’s never a penalty honestly. I was expecting something like this in this game – as I said, when you play in Ghana, the odds are not on your side,” Buckley said on SABC post-match.
Buckley believes that not only was the penalty a bad decision, but also that the referee favoured Ghana regularly throughout, which prevented Bafana getting into their rhythm.
“Very difficult to win. Because nothing was going their way, every tackle [foul] against South Africa wasn’t given. It’s very difficult in that situation to try and win games. It’s very heartsore and I feel for the players,” he concluded.