Mamelodi Sundowns suffered a heart-breaking 3-1 loss on penalties to
Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 Cup final at Moses Mabhida Stadium last
Saturday.
Although the Masandawana fans were unhappy with the referee’s decisions,
former Sundowns midfielder Roger Feutmba believes that the referee’s
mistakes were unintentional.
In an exclusive interview with PSLSA, Feutmba said that Sundowns should
also take responsibility for not scoring the opportunities they had
created.
“Yes, I can say there were two penalties which the referee should have
given mainly the one from the corner kick,” Feutmba told the Siya crew.
“I can’t believe how he couldn’t give that one! The other one could be
debatable. The one on Peter Shalulile. But we can’t say it was robbery. It
was the wrong decision. There is no one who can come with the intention to
rob another team of victory mainly in such a big game like the cup final.”
The Cameroonian added that, although the referee’s decisions cost
Sundowns the trophy, they should have won the game earlier on if they had
taken their chances
“It was a totally difficult day for us. We could have won the game if
Themba Zwane and Peter Shalulile had taken those chances. Shalulile cannot
miss from an open net like that. That could have been 1-0 and that could
have been enough to win the game. “Opportunities were there to kill the
game but that’s the beauty of football. You get the unexpected results and
Pirates won the trophy. It was really unfortunate for us. If we had just
scored one goal with the quality of Sundowns that could have been the end.
But that’s what happened and that’s football,” Feutmba concluded.
Mamelodi Sundowns were left to rue their missed opportunities as they
lost out on the first silverware of the season to Orlando Pirates in the
MTN8 Cup final at Moses Mabhida Stadium last Saturday.
Despite the referee’s decisions being questioned by the Sundowns fans,
former Sundowns midfielder Roger Feutmba believes that the mistakes were
unintentional. In an exclusive interview with PSLSA, Feutmba said that
Sundowns should have taken the chances they had created in order to win
the game earlier on.
“Yes, I can say there were two penalties which the referee should have
given mainly the one from the corner kick,” Feutmba told the Siya crew.
“Opportunities were there to kill the game but that’s the beauty of
football. You get the unexpected results and Pirates won the trophy. It
was really unfortunate for us. If we had just scored one goal with the
quality of Sundowns that could have been the end. But that’s what happened
and that’s football,” Feutmba concluded.
Feutmba also suggested that it’s time for the Video Assistant Referee
(VAR) to be brought in to help in such situations.
He believes that this would help to avoid such controversial decisions in
the future.
