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GOVERNMENT says it will complain to FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the misconduct of Ethiopian referee Bamlak Weyesa during Saturday’s Confederation Cup match between Nkana and Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia.
Nkana coach Beston Chambeshi said his team’s victory over Tunisian giants has motivated his players to beat Al Ahly of Egypt in next Saturday’s Confederations Cup Group B return match.
Minister of Youth and Sport Chishimba Kambwili made the announcement in Luanshya yesterday that both FIFA and CAF would be communicated to on the poor officiating of the match by the 33-year-old Weyesa.
“I would like to inform the nation that I am extremely disappointed with the way the Nkana match was handled yesterday [Saturday] by the Ethiopian referee,” the minister said.
Kambwili has also requested Nkana to complain to CAF over the poor handling of the match by the Ethiopian.
Nkana beat Sahel 4-3 with the Tunisian team being awarded two questionable penalties, one in the fourth minute which Youssef Mouihbi converted to put his side ahead and again stepped up to score the second penalty at the nick of time with the Zambians leading 4-2 at the time.
“I told the referee personally that I was going to write CAF to complain about the manner he handled the match and I want to urge Nkana FC to lodge in an official complaint about the way the game was handled,” he said.
“And as minister, I am writing to FIFA and CAF to complain and urging them to review the video of the game and see what had transpired. Games are there to bring people together and bring unity, but games are not there to disunite the people.
“But if referees are not fair in the way they handle the games, then we are going to have a lot of problems…so as a country, we are officially going to lodge in a complaint to both CAF and FIFA,” he said.
And speaking in a post-match interview on Saturday, Chambeshi said his team will now concentrate on preparing for the next match against Al Ahly to ensure they collect maximum points.
Chambeshi said the technical bench will work on the defence that looked shaky on Saturday to avoid conceding unnecessary goals against Al Ahly.
“It’s a good victory for the team and the boys. It’s not easy to score against Arab teams but we managed to do it. We need to maintain the same spirit even in our next match against Al Ahly,” Chambeshi said.
Nkana have four points, four behind leaders Al Ahly, who edged Sewe Sport of Ivory Coast 1-0 in a late kick off in Cairo.
Zambia Daily Mail
